The New Girl
by Suze18
Summary: Kelsie is a new girl at Degrassi, has a boyfriend back home.But her and Craig become close.Will she decide she wants Craig instead? There are twists that you won't expect, especially near the end (Complete, Jan31 Added More To Each Chapter)
1. New Girl

Kelsie slowly got out of her black Acura, with her brown curly locks shaking to each side as she hopped out. She locked her door before slammed it shut, and heading up to this new world of hers. She had just left her whole life behind a month ago when her dad was transferred to Ontario from British Columbia, a place where she didn't know anyone.

She was a little uneasy with it being her first day and all; she kept her head slightly down, avoiding any eye contact with anyone. She was timid being in such a big school, something that she wasn't use to. Her school back home was only about half the size as this one.

She walked into the school, she could see that the halls were crowded; everyone was saying their hellos and finding out what each, other did during the summer holiday. Hearing it all made her miss her friends even more. This should have been her back at Chatelech, but no, she had to be the new student in a new place.

Kelsie got to the end of the hall and at first didn't see the Office. She couldn't bare the thought of having to go back down that jungle of a hallway again. She started to turn around, dreading the very thought, when on she noticed the office right in front of her. She made her way through the door, and stood at the front desk waiting the help of a secretary, patiently.

Craig ran up the concrete stairs of Degrassi High with a giant smile on his face. He felt like this year he could actually make a fresh new start after the scandal that had happen last year, and having it spread around the school like a wildfire. Some days last year had been unbearable. No this year he wasn't going to make a mistake like that again. As he reached the top step, he was greeted by Emma.

"Hey Craig, how was your summer?" Emma asked, smiling. "Didn't really see you around Joey's place when I was babysitting?"

"I was working at the theater, and when I wasn't doing that I was working on my two passions, my music and my photography. The guys weren't really around most of the summer, so I didn't have them to hang out with. What did you do?"

"When I was babysitting your sister I seemed to babysitting my brother. I did hang out with Manny and JT occasionally, but always together. They seemed to be in separable."

Craig looked down at the mention of those two. It wasn't that he was jealous that JT was with Manny, it was just he wish he could find someone to be that happy with.

"Oh Craig, I'm sorry," looking at him with sympathedic eyes. "I totally wasn't thinking...." she began to ramble.

"Emma, Emma, EMMA," he hollered. She finally stopped. "It's okay, I'm over her, it's just weird how Ashley and Manny both have someone and yet I don't." His eyes began to sadden.

Putting her hand on his shoulder, "Craig don't worry, you're not the only one. I don't have anyone either."

Confused, since the last thing he heard they were together, "What happen to Chris?"

"He and his ex-girlfriend got back together. It's no big deal," trying to hide her hurt.

"We're starting to sound real depressing and it's only the first day of school."

"I know what is wrong with us," starting to laugh lightly at themselves.

"Well starting now, we're going to cheer up, it's a new year who knows where that might lead us. I have to think it can't be any worse then last year." A Craig smile putting his hand on the door handle and starts to open it, "Well I have to go, talk to you later."

"Yeah, see ya."

Craig went through the door and down the crowded hallway leaving Emma outside sitting on the steps waiting for Manny and JT since she promised she would.

"Can I help you miss?" one of the secretaries asked.

"Yes, I'm new here and I don't know where I'm supposed to go to find out where my homeroom is."

"Here's a little map of the school," handing her a little paper. "Then you go to the gym, first you look for your grade and then your letter of your last name. On that sheet will have your name and what room is your homeroom?"

"Thank you," she said are she turned to leave.

Kelsie looked at the map, and was totally confused. She couldn't seem to find the office on the map. If she couldn't find the office then how else was she suppose to find the gym? Finally, after looking at the map closely she was able to find it. As she started walking, the bell rang.

"Great it's the first day, I'm going to be late, and I haven't even got to the gym to check my homeroom," she said rolling her eyes.

Craig hadn't been to the gym yet; everyone today had stopped him and asked him about his summer. He walked to the gym from the other end of the school. At the pace, he was going he wouldn't get there until homeroom was ended.

Mr. Simpson came from around the corner, to see Craig walking down the halls. "Mr. Manning aren't you suppose to be in your homeroom right now?"

"Yes Mr. Simpson, but I haven't been to the gym yet to find out what room it's in."

"Well I say that you should speed up that pace if you're going to make it at all."

"Alright, but I must ask, how are you feeling these days?"

"Much better, I'm in remission now," he said smiling. "Have a nice day." Mr. Simpson headed towards his classroom.

"You too," Craig started walking against towards the gym at a much faster pace.

Kelsie found the number of her homeroom, now all she had to do was find it on her map. As she was looking at the map, a boy appeared through the gym doors. His curly brown hair dangled in his face, but he didn't care. He liked his hair a little long. He walked up to the grade 11 section, and looked under M. He was just about to leave when he saw her, noticing that she looked real lost. He came from behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Excuse me..."

"Ah..." he had scared her. She wasn't expecting someone to come up and touch her on the shoulder. "You scared me."

"Sorry, do you need any help?" he asked looking right into her eyes. They seemed so sad he thought to himself.

"Yeah, I'm new here, and I don't know where my homeroom is, this map is really hard to read. The print it so small," she smiled, and then slightly looked down.

"I know what you mean; I don't know how they expect anyone to find anything on it. Why don't I help you?"

"That would be nice," she gave him a bigger smile showing off her pearly whites. This was the first time since she arrived in Toronto that she had smile.


	2. What's Your Name?

"So what room is your homeroom?" Craig asked.

"Room 2134 with Mrs. Sproule," she said as she looked at the sheet she wrote it on.

"That's right down the hall from mine," he said putting his hand on the small of her back as he led her out of the gym.

"So what is your name?" Kelsie asked, looking up at him as they walked through the halls.

"Craig Manning and yours."

"Kelsie Fitzgerald."

Curious to know a little about her, "What brings you to Degrassi?"

"My dad got transferred to Toronto last month."

"So where are you originally from?"

"Sechelt, British Columbia. It's a little small town on the coast. It may have been small, but it was so beautiful!"

"That's kewl, I love BC it's one of my favorite places. I hope someday to actually move there one day."

"I would love to move back after I finish school, maybe go to UVic."

"What do you love to do for fun?" he asked as they climbed the east side stairs.

"I love to take photos, write, and listen to music."

"If you like photography, then maybe you should be on the yearbook or newspaper with me. They're always looking for new people."

"You like photography too!"

"Yeah, I love to capture the moments of life. I also love to write my own music for my band."

"That's so kewl!!!" she said as the tone of her voice change to being cheerful. "I always wanted to be in a band."

"Well one of these times you're going to have to come check us out," he said as he began to grow feelings with out realizing it.

"That would be awesome!!! When I arrived here, I thought this first day would be so crummy, I dreaded walking in being the new girl in such a big school. But now I don't feel that way."

"Well, now you know someone." Craig pointed out to the door, "Here's your stop," he started to walk away.

"Thanks!" Kelsie said, "It was real kind of you."

Craig turns around on his toes, and as he walks backwards, "It was my pleasure, bye," waving good-bye.

"Bye," she waved back.

Spinner sat in his desk bored out of his mind, the first day was pointless. You never do anything but hear what you need for the class, and all the information teachers give out every year. He could be at the Dot with his girlfriend Paige making up quality time they lost during the summer. The door shutting close disturbed his line of thought. At the front of the classroom was someone that he was sure he had never seen before. She had brown curly locks and brown eyes that fit perfectly in between her petite nose. She wore a strapless black shirt with pleaded fuchsia skirt that sat on her hips perfectly in his thought.

Spinner turned around in his seat to face Jimmy, "Hey Jimmy, is it me or is she new?"

Looking up at her, "She's new; I've never seen her before. She probably got lost, and that probably the reason why she's late."

Changing the subject, "So tell me man how things are going with Ash?"

"They're good; I've waited forever for us to get back together."

"Hopefully she doesn't ruin it again," he said sarcastically.

Jimmy punches him in the arm. "Ouch," rubbing his arm, "that hurt."

"Well you don't have to be so mean about her all the time. She knows how it feels to be hurt; I don't think she'll do it again. She's done a lot of growing up since the last time we dated."

"Okay I get your point…"

Spinner was interrupted by Mrs.Sproule, "Can I have your attention class. We have a new student in our school." She put her hands on Kelsie's shoulders; "I would like you to meet Kelsie Fitzgerald."

"Dude she's real hot!" Spinner said.

"Yeah, look but don't touch," reminding him of his girlfriend.

"I know, I know."

"Kelsie why don't you sit in front of Gavin," Mrs. Sproule said pointing to him.

"Alright," she said walking to her seat.

"Now class is almost over so I'm going to give you your assigned lockers."

Craig walked into his Homeroom, only moments after saying good-bye to Kelsie. He had a big smile on his face; he could tell that this year was defiantly going to be a great year.

"It's nice that you could join us Mr. Manning," Mr. Mack said playfully.

Looking a little embarrassed, "Sorry, I was helping a new girl find her classroom."

"I will excuse you this time, now take a seat please."

"Thank you," he said with gratitude as he went to sit right in front of Marco.

"Hey, Craig," Marco said.

"Hey, what have I missed?"

"Nothing really except the kind of things we'll be doing in Socials. Tell me about this girl though," he said nudging him, wanting to know is she was Craig's type.

"Her name is Kelsie, she seems really nice. We seem to have a lot in common," as he continued to talk about her he beamed.

"Is she good looking," he asked.

"Yeah, she's gorgeous!"

"Sounds like you have a thing for her," he said nudging him.

"No, I just met her."

"Yeah but you seem to beam every time you talk about her."

"I don't know we'll see how things go. I want to get to know her…."

Mr. Mack interrupted him, "I'm going to come around and tell you your locker numbers and combination, and then you can leave and go put your stuff in your locker."


	3. The Hot Chick!

Craig was sitting on a stool, with his shiny black acoustic guitar on his knee, as he strung the strings, trying to put music notes together for the lyrics he had started writing a few weeks ago. Just then, Spinner strolled through the garage door with his sticks in hand. Craig hadn't even noticed him he was too busy singing the song to see if the lyrics went with the notes.

Spinner came right up behind him, "Dude are you always at work?" amazed at his dedication to his music.

Craig turned around and looked at Spinner, "I just wrote a new song, I was trying to find the right chords to go with it."

"That's kewl," sitting in the near by couch.

"What brings you by so early?"

"I was bored, nothing else to do."

"Where's Paige?" knowing that they were always together.

"She and Hazel went shopping for school supplies. Then they she said they were having a girls night," he said rolling his eyes at the last part.

"That's nice I guess we'll have to have a guys night then."

"That's right. Where did you go after school, I mean I didn't see you after we went to homeroom."

"I went looking for someone, but I never found them before they left."

"Bummer. Who was it, Emma?"

"No, there's nothing going on with us. She's just a friend."

"Oh is that why you tried to avoid her all summer."

"I didn't try to avoid her, I had a job."

"That may be the case but you still wanted to avoid her. The question is why?"

"Okay, I had a thing for her, but she had a boyfriend and I wasn't about to be part of another love triangle. Anyway I don't think I want her anymore."

"Well anyways, you missed seeing this new girl in school. Boy she was a babe!"

As Spinner said that Craig began to wonder if it was Kelsie, he was talking about. The girl he went looking for. "What was her name?"

"Kelsie, why?" he questioned.

"That is who I was looking for."

"Why? How do you know her?" real confused why Craig would know her, when it was only the first day.

"I met her when headed to find out my homeroom. She was lost so I helped her find her classroom. I wanted to ask for her email address."

"Dude you should so go for her."

Putting down his guitar on its stand, "Spin like I said to Marco I'm just going to get to know her first. I don't want to do something stupid this time. Look where it gets me when I rush into things, and don't think them over."

"You got a point there."

"So how are things going with Paige, I didn't really get to ask you given that she was right there this morning."

"Great, let's just say that this summer will always be remembered."

"You scored didn't you?"

"That's right, but don't spread that around, Paige would kill me if she knew I said a thing."

"I wouldn't do that, I know what it's like when things get around the school. Besides that how are things going?"

"Fine I could do without her nagging once in a while," sinking into the couch.

"Then why are you still with her if you don't like her nagging?"

"I don't know anything else, we've together so long, and I do love her too. We'll just have to see if that's enough," he sighed.

They didn't even get to finish their conversation before Jimmy and Marco walked through the door.

"Craig I heard you have a thing for the new girl, Kelsie," Jimmy hollered.

"Who told you that?" he said looking at Marco.

"Marco, what's the big deal?" Jimmy asked, not seeing that there was a real reason to be angry about it.

"Nothing it's just I met her today and I don't even get to tell you about her before you find out."

"Well I wouldn't need to know what she looks like since she is in my English class with Spinner. All I have to say is she is FINE!"

"Can't disagree with you there, I don't think I've met such a beauty before," Craig said as remember how she looked as he first laid eyes on her.

"Well we should get practicing," Marco said.

They practices for over 3 hours, they had lost track of time. It had been a while since they felt like it was fun. It had seemed to be like a chore at times, but today was different.

"Wow, looked at the time. I think that it's about time that I got home," Spinner said as he looked at his watch.

"I can't believe it's that late!" Craig said, looking at the time.

"Neither can I." Jimmy said.

They all gathered their stuff up, "See you guys at school tomorrow," Craig said waving good-bye to them as they left in their cars, and he headed up the stairs into his house.


	4. Class Together

Craig carried his heavy backpack on his shoulders to his locker. It felt like it weighed a ton. Why did they have to have so much stuff for school? It was killing his shoulders, even his back. Just going up the stairs with it became a big job. He was happy when he finally seen his locker. He slowly put his bag in front of him on the ground, as he put in his combination for his locker.

Kelsie walked down the hall towards her locker thinking of her boyfriend back home. She spotted Craig trying to open up his locker. He was in a tight black shirt, and jeans. It seemed like he had styled his hair, making a little less puffy.

Dam he looked hot!!! No, she couldn't think that way, she had Chris back home.

When he finally opened it, he unloaded his stuff into it onto the shelf. As he looked to his right, he saw Kelsie in a pair of hip hugger jeans and a grey and yellow stripe tube top, and her hair up in a ponytail with her bangs bunched forward at the front. She was at her locker on her knees doing the same thing as him.

Once he was finished, he went over to her, leaning on the locker next to hers, "Hey Kelsie, how are you today?"

Kelsie looked up and smiled, "I'm doing good Craig. "

"So what's your schedule like?"

She stood up, and closed her locker, "Well it seems like I have all my hard subjects this semester."

"What do you have?"

"English, math, biology and social studies."

"Sounds like a challenging semester, almost like mine except I don't have English. What block is your math and biology in?"

"Math's in D block and Biology is in B."

"Well it looks like we have those together, so you'll have a friendly face," she blushed at that comment.

"Yeah, I did meet these two guys in my English class though, they seem nice."

"Did it happen to be by the name of Jimmy and Spinner?" knowing that he was right.

Surprised that he was right, "Yeah, how did you know?"

"They told me at band practice last night."

"You were talking about me?" she asked, a little curious to what they had said.

"Nothing bad of course," she sweetly said.

The morning bell went, and some kids began to rush to their lockers others took their time.

"Why don't you meet me here after first block and we'll walk to our class together," Craig suggested.

"Okay, I'd like that," she said pulling her hair behind her ear as she smiled at him.

**Biology Class**

Craig and Kelsie sat on stools in front of their table in the science lab. They decided that they would be partners for the class.

"So how was English?" Craig asked looking at her instead at the front where the teacher was talking non-stop.

"Boring, she just went over things that I learned last year. I just doodle in my book. How was your class?"

"Good, thank God that this year is all about our history without the geography."

"Ms. Fitzgerald & Mr. Manning quit your chatting, now isn't the time for it. You're going to need to know what we're doing this year," Mrs. Siemplekemp said with a stern voice.

"Sorry," they both said.

Instead of them talking, they sent notes to each other. Why start listening to the rest of it if they hadn't heard the first part.

"_How would you like to eat lunch with me and my friends in the cafeteria today?" Craig wrote._

"_I would love to! Come with me to my locker then after class."_

"_Okay."_

"_So what's your email __."_

"_Thanks!!!"_

"_No Problem." She put a couple of happy faces beside it._

"_Would you next week like to come and listen to some of my bands music?"_

"_Sure, beats staying at home with nothing to do."_

"_Okay then it's settled."_

The Lunch bell rang, and it didn't take long for the students to exit the classroom, leaving Craig and Kelsie last out. They were taking their time they weren't in any rush.

**Cafeteria**

Craig and Kelsie walked over to the table the gang was sitting at. "Hey you guys, I would like you to meet Kelsie."

"Hey," they all said.

"Kelsie this is Marco sitting beside me, his boyfriend Dylan beside him. Then there's Hazel, and Terri. You know Jimmy, and that's his girlfriend Ashley, and Spinner and his girlfriend Paige."

"So where are you from?" Paige asked a little curious since she had to know stuff about everyone.

"I'm from a town called Sechelt, a little place on the coast of British Columbia. My dad was transferred so we had to move."

"Well you're welcome to hang out with us. We would love to get to know you," Paige said.

"Thanks, yesterday I was all worried about finding friends, but now I guess I really shouldn't have worried."

"Nah, some of us have been the new kids in school so we know how it's like," Marco replied.

They all sat in the cafeteria the whole lunch hour getting to know their new friend. Listening to this was making Craig just fell deeper for her. Was he suppose to fall so fast like this? Was it normal?


	5. Nice Talk

Kelsie sat at her computer when she got home from school. And was just signing in when something popped up saying you have a new email from when she saw that her heart flipped. Oh, she missed him so much, it wasn't that she hated living here so much anymore, but when looking at her picture of him made her feel home sick, make her miss him. She opened the email:

_Hey Sweet thing,_

_The school hasn't been the same without you. I wanted to phone you up to see how you were doing, but then the guys dragged me out before I even got the chance._

_How are things going over there? Have you made any new friends? I bet you have because you're so loveable! That's why I fell for you. I know you were worried about this whole long distance thing, but don't worry I know that we can do it because we love each other._

_I miss our long talks on the phone before we went to bed, your sweet kisses, or just lying in each other's arms at night when your parents were away. _

_I would love to write you more, but I'm in class so I better shut this down before I get caught._

_Love You Lots!!!!!!_

_Chris_

Then she looked to find there was another email this time from .

_Kelsie,_

_How are you doing? I hope things are going aright for you. We all miss you over here, especially in Drama class when we would just goof off, and have fun._

_I think that you need to visit soon Chris is looking a little down. He really misses you and we think he needs to get some if you know what I mean. (Just Bugging) We'll keep an eye on him, making sure he doesn't get into any trouble._

_Your Friend,_

_Blake_

Kelsie couldn't believe he had sent her that; aw, poor Chris isn't doing well without her. Well she would make sure to cheer him up by telling him that my parents have agreed to pay for a trip down there.

A MSN Messenger popped up.

_Overexposed: Hey Kelsie_

_HeavenlyKisses: Hey Craig, what are you up to?_

_Overexposed: Nothing much, just listening to music. You?_

_HeavenlyKisses: I'm just finishing checking my email. Would you mind if I came to see your band this weekend?_

_Overexposed: No, I don't. So how's your writing going?_

_HeavenlyKisses: It's good; I'm almost done my first book._

_Overexposed: What's about?_

_HeavenlyKisses: About a young girl who has Leukemia. Her boyfriend decides that it's too much for him so he runs away. Through it, they both grow as people only to see each other again. They then have to see if those once feelings are still there or is time for them to move on._

_Overexposed: Wow! Are you going to publish it?_

_  
HeavenlyKisses: Yeah, but I have to send it to my boyfriend Chris to read first. He had been helping me out with is so I want him to be the first to see it._

When Craig heard her mention her boyfriend the smile that was planted on his face was soon replaced by a frown. It hurt to know that a girl he was falling for was already spoken for.

_Overexposed: So how are you and Chris doing?_

_HeavenlyKisses: We're good; my parents just told me that they're going to pay for me to go to visit him in November, when we have a day off from school._

The thought of her going to see her boyfriend made Craig sad because he knew that they probably would get close again after being away from each other for so long. This must be some type of punishment for his bad actions last year.

_Overexposed: That's nice of them._

"Kelsie you have a phone call," her mother hollered from downstairs

"Okay, just a minute," she yelled back.

_HeavenlyKisses: I have to go, see you tomorrow at your band practice._

_Overexposed: Bye._


	6. Baring All

Kelsie arrived early to the band practice; she was just coming back from the mall, so she thought that she would just show up a little early. She came through the garage door to hear Craig strolling away on his guitar. Singing a song, she sat in the doorway listening to the words. She didn't want to disturb him. And if he knew she was there, he may not finish singing it, and she really wanted to here it.

Na na

Na na na na na na

I miss you

I miss you so bad

I don't forget you

Oh it's so sad

I hope you can hear me

I remember it clearly

The day you slipped away

Was the day I found

It wouldn't be the same

Oh

Na na

Na na na na na

I didn't get around to kiss you

Goodbye on the hand

I wish that I could see you again

I know that I can't

I hope you can hear me

I remember it clearly

The day you slipped away

Was the day I found

It wouldn't be the same

Oh

I've had my wake up

Won't you wake up

I keep asking why

I can't take it

It wasn't fake

It happened you passed by

Now you're gone

Now you're gone

There you go

There you go

Somewhere I can't bring you back

Now you're gone

Now you're gone

There you go

There you go

Somewhere you're not coming back

The day you slipped away

Was the day I found

It wouldn't be the same

Oh

Na na

Na na na na na na

I miss you

There was so much power in those words that Craig sang. Kelsie looked at Craig, and saw tears in his eyes as he finished singing those words. She knew that this song was about someone who was close to him that had died. She didn't go up to him until she knew he was finished.

As she slowly came up to him, he didn't see her; he was wiping away his tears. Kelsie put her hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay Craig?"

Startled by her touch he jumped up from his seat, "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to listen to that beautiful song." Giving off her best fake smile, "So are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine," he lied hoping that she didn't notice the tears.

"Then why were you crying? Who was that song about?"

"Okay, why don't you sit down?" He led her to the old leather couch on the side.

"I was crying because I was thinking about my mother, and how much I miss her. When I'm alone in the garage I usually play that song."

"It's beautiful," she said staring into his brown eyes.

"Yeah, just like she was. I see a lot of her in my sister everyday."

"Why haven't you let anyone else hear that song?"

"I guess I wasn't ready to show everyone that part of me."

"I think you should because that part of you is warm loving person. And show's that you care."

"If I was that kind of person then I wouldn't have done what I did to Ashley and Manny."

"What are you talking about?"

At that moment, he wished he kept his mouth shut. He thought someone would have told her about that by now, warning her to stay away from him. "You really want to know, because once you know it might change your opinion of me."

"I want to know." She eager to know what happen to make him think that low of himself.

"Last year I was dating Ashley. Well I could never tell her how I felt for her because I didn't know how to express myself. I finally told her through a song. The night of Paige's birthday party, she told me we would have sex. Well I told Spinner who couldn't keep his mouth shut. She got mad at me and I left. Manny followed me, she came on to me and I just never resisted…"

Kelsie interrupts him, "You wouldn't be the first person to cheat."

"No there's more. I couldn't get Manny out of my system. By Christmas Manny wanted me to choose, but I couldn't. Well Ashley found my present for Manny and figured it out."

"Wow, but that still doesn't mean you can't change." Putting her arm around him, "Trust me I know someone from Sechelt that did way worse than you."

Looking deeply into her eyes, "I've never met someone so understanding."

"If you lived in Sechelt than you would understand," she smirked.

"Thanks," he leaned in for a hug; they slowly moved from their embrace, gazing into each other's eyes. They both felt some kind of force pulling them together; slowly their lips came closer and closer until they were touching. The kiss was soft at first but as the tension increase, the kiss became rough crushing each other's lips.

From the garage, you could hear Spinner and the rest of the boys coming closer to the garage, laughing. Kelsie and Craig both heard it, so they quickly departed from the kiss before they were caught.

"Craig this never happen. This was just a big mistake. I'm in love with my boyfriend." What did I just do, she thought to herself.

Those words were like a fire to his heart. He really thought that maybe she had decide that long distance relationships just don't work. "Okay it never happened," he reluctantly said.

As the boys entered the garage, Kelsie became feeling uncomfortable being there, she got up from the couch, "Well I have to go… something came up," she said fast, almost running out the door.

"Dude, what was that all about?" Spinner asks.

"I don't know," Craig lied. He jus hoped that this didn't ruin the friendship that they had.

"Whatever," Spinner said, knowing that there was move to it that he wasn't saying.


	7. The Day After

Sunday afternoon Kelsie sat in her room playing the piano. She didn't accept any calls the last night or today. She couldn't believe she let something like that get to her; it was so not like her. The last thing she wanted to do was do something that would put her relationship with Chris in jeopardy. She truly loved him, but something about Craig was drawing her to him, making her think about him some nights.

**"Pieces Of Me"**

_On a Monday, I am waiting  
Tuesday, I am fading  
_

Kelsie was singing when Craig starting climbing the stairs to her room. Instead of knocking when he got to the door, he just leaned again the wall on the outside, listening to her sing, but hiding so she wouldn't see him. He knew she wouldn't be too thrilled to know that he was here in the first place, not after yesterday.

_And by Wednesday, I can't sleep  
Then the phone rings, I hear you  
And the darkness is a clear view  
Cuz you've come to rescue me _

_Fall... With you, I fall so fast  
I can hardly catch my breath, I hope it lasts  
_  
Craig couldn't believe that she knew how to sing so well let alone play the piano. She hadn't shown any of her friends this part of her, and he couldn't help and wonder why. He decided to interrupt her to find out.

"Hey Kels," he said coming in her room with a half smile.

"Don't you knock?" she said impolitely, turning to face him away from him, towards the window.

"Sorry, but why didn't you tell me you could sing?"

Turning back towards him, "Like you, I wasn't ready to share that part of me with anyone else."

"Well does your boyfriend know about this side?" curious to know if he was the first one to find out her secret.

"Yeah, but he's the only one…besides you now."

"What was that you were singing?" probing to find out all he could about this girl he loved.

"Something that I wrote a while back for Chris," getting a little sad when thinking of him. "What brings you by?"

"I came to apologize about yesterday; I should have never kissed you."

"Craig I'm just as much to blame about it as you. I guess I just missed what it felt like to be cared about; it's just been so long since Chris and I have seen each other. Sometimes it really gets to me. Yeah I love him, but being so young makes it's just so hard to maintain a long distance relationship. I never thought it would be this hard when we settle on the idea," she said almost in tears.

Craig strolled over, sat on the bench next to Kelsie, and just held her in his arms as she cried. This was hard for him to say, but he knew it was the right thing to do, "Maybe after you go over to see him then maybe you will feel better."

Kelsie released from their embrace, and looked at him. "Maybe you're right!"

Wanting to here her voice some more, "So will you play me the whole song?"

"Okay, but you can't tell anyone."

Thinking of a great idea, "Alright, but I think you might be a great addition to our band."

"You can't be serious," thinking that he was joking.

"But I am."

"I'll think about it," not sure if she was quite ready for that.

Kelsie turned back towards her Piano, and began to play the intro to the song.

_On a Monday, I am waiting  
Tuesday, I am fading  
And by Wednesday, I can't sleep  
Then the phone rings, I hear you  
And the darkness is a clear view  
Cuz you've come to rescue me_

Fall...With you, I fall so fast  
I can hardly catch my breath, I hope it lasts

Chorus:  
Ohhhhh  
It seems like I can finally rest my head on something real  
I like the way that feels  
Ohhhhh  
It's as if you know me better than I ever knew myself  
I love how you can tell  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me

I am moody, messy  
I get restless, and it's senseless  
How you never seem to care

When I'm angry, you listen  
Make me happy it's a mission  
And you won't stop til I'm there

Fall... Sometimes I fall so fast  
When I hit that bottom  
Crash, you're all I have

Chorus:  
Ohhhhh  
It seems like I can finally rest my head on something real  
I like the way that feels  
Ohhhhh  
It's as if you known me better than I ever knew myself  
I love how you can tell  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me

How do you know everything I'm about to say?  
Am I that obvious?  
And if it's written on my face...  
I hope it never goes away... yeah

On a Monday, I am waiting  
And by Tuesday, I am fading into your arms...  
So I can breathe

Chorus:  
Ohhhhh  
It seems like I can finally rest my head on something real  
I like the way that feels  
Ohhhhh  
It's as if you've know me better than I ever knew myself  
I love how you can tell  
Ohhhhh  
I love how you can tell  
Ohhhhh  
I love how you can tell  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me...

"If that book you're writing is anything like the music you write then people better watch out for you," saying that put a smile on her face, she couldn't help but blush.

Giving him a hug, "Thanks for being such a great friend. I don't know where I would be if I didn't meet you. I mean you've done nothing but make me feel welcomed, and less homesick."

"No problem. Do you want to come meet Spin, Ash, Paige, and Jimmy at The Dot with me?"

"Sure why not, I've been cooped up in the house all day. Just let me change first."

"Okay, I'll meet you downstairs," heading towards the door.

"Alright."


	8. What Should I Do?

It was lunchtime, Craig walked down the school halls with his camera around his neck, looking a little dejected, as if he had just put on the first thing he saw when he got out of bed. Emma saw this from a distance, finding it a little odd because he was usually up beat when it came to taking photos. She actually hadn't seen him this way since the summer time. She decided to stop what she was doing and catch up with him to see what was up with him.

"Craig…slow down," she said almost out of breath from chasing after him.

"What is it?" he asked finally stopping in his tracks, turning around to face her.

"I've been chasing you for a few minutes." Looking into his eyes, "What's up with you, you don't look like your normal self?"

"I can't talk about it," he said starting to walk away. But it was just killing him inside.

Emma grabs his arm to try to stop him, "Why not, you look like it's really disturbing you."

"I promised I wouldn't," he pleaded for her to stop asking.

"Well I hope it's worth keeping, cause whatever it is looks like it's really iodinating you." Emma started to walk the opposite direction.

He just couldn't keep it in, he needed to talk about his feelings with someone, "If I tell you, will you promise not to say it to anyone?"

"I promise, so spill it," eager to hear.

Grabbing her arm, pulling her, "Not here, let's go somewhere else, somewhere more private."

"Alright."

Emma followed Craig to the little creek behind the school. The creek seemed to be deserted, so they decided to sit down on the damp ground, against a big oak tree.

"So what's the matter with you? I haven't seen you like this since the summer," Emma said looking at his face.

"See I have these feelings for Kelsie, but the only problem is she has a boyfriend," looking at the leaf he was fidgeting with in his hand. He knew what she was going to tell him already, and it wasn't as if he wasn't thinking about it himself.

"Last thing you need is another triangle like last year," worried that he might get himself into some more trouble. She knew how hard it was after that all came out, and she hated the thought of him going through it again.

"I know, I know. But that's not even the problem," he sighed, leaning his head up against the tree, looking right ahead of him.

"Then what is it?"

"Kelsie came over to my house early, see she was coming to see my band play. She walked in on something personal to me, something that I didn't want others to know about me. She had me open up about it, and it felt good to know that she knew how I was feeling. Then we were drawn into a kiss, the most passionate kiss I've ever had, the only reason we stopped it was because the boys showed up. She says it didn't mean anything, but when she was kissing me, it said other wise. I'm just so confused, I mean if the guys hadn't walked in, what would have happened?"

"Maybe she needs time to really see it. Show her that you care, but don't tell her you like her because you might scare her away."

"Are you sure?" unsure if this was the right thing to do. He rather wanted to be totally honest with her.

"Yes, trust me," patting him on the knee.

Putting his hand over hers, "Thanks!"

They both walked back across the field towards the school before the bell rang for next block.

Kelsie scurried right to Paige who was already sitting down at her desk, as she turns up into their Social Studies class.

"Hey girl, how's it going?" Paige said in a cheerful mood, smiling.

Kelsie sat down right in front of her, not at Paige, "I have a problem."

Seeing that Kelsie was real upset, "Calm down Kels, what's wrong?"

Taking a deep breath, having a hard time getting it to come out, "The other night…Craig and I kissed."

"What, why?" wondered why she would do that when she had a great boyfriend back in Sechelt that worshipped her.

"Lately since it's near my birthday I've been really missing home…and Chris. I was talking with him about his life, and the next thing I know my lips are on his, and we're kissing."

"Oh My!!! Did you like it?" prying to know details.

"I don't know,' slumping back in her chair. "See I really love Chris, and truly believe that we're meant for each other, but something in me is drawn to Craig and how he makes me feel when I'm around him."

"Do you have feelings for him?"

"I don't know, and even if I do, I think that it will all change once I see Chris again," trying to convince herself.

"I don't know," thinking that there was more there than Kelsie was willing to admit.

Kelsie decided to change the subject, and perked up, "My parents have decided that for my birthday that they would pay for me to go to Sechelt."

"Your parents are way cool."

"I know I could hardly believe my ears when they told me. I just can't wait to be in his arms again, holding me, among other things," she said raising her left eyebrow.

"You will have to fill me in on the details," she laughed.

"I will, but before I leave next week, we have to a girl's night since this means I wouldn't be here for my birthday."

"I agree, maybe a girl's night at my house," she already had a plan unraveling in her head.

"Yeah, I like that idea."

"You don't worry about any of the details, I'll do it all." This was a night that Kelsie wasn't going to forget, Paige thought.

"Thanks," she grinned


	9. Planning

Paige met Spinner, Craig, Ashley and Jimmy at Craig's house in his garage. She had all of them meet her there, so that Kelsie wouldn't find them. She wanted this to be a surprise, something very special for her.

"Paige what this all about, Why did we need to meet in secret?" Ashley questioned, as sat on Jimmy's knee, with his arms around her waist.

Paige came and sat on the arm of the couch, "I want to throw Kelsie a surprise party at my house before she goes to Sechelt for the weekend, since she won't be here for it."

"Are you sure she would want one, didn't you say she just wanted something with the girls earlier?" Ashley asked, unsure if it was such a great idea throwing a party for her, having a gut feeling that it would only end badly.

"Yeah, but I wanted to do something special for her," Ashley just rolled her eyes as Paige went on, "make her feel like this is her home too. She still doesn't feel like this her home yet," remembering the many conversations that they had amongst themselves. "I want to change that."

"Why doesn't our band play at the party?" Craig suggests, smiling, thinking that would be a great way to show off to her without actually doing anything about his feelings.

"Before we say yes I think we should ask Marco first." Jimmy said, knowing that he should get a say in the matter.

"Dude we know he would say yes, so Paige what do you think?" Spinner asked, getting a little excited about their first performance since the battle of the bands.

"Sounds good, all we need to do is make a guest list. Whoever comes is not allowed to bring anyone else. I want this to be a birthday party not a party, party," knowing how some teens can get a little out of hand at parties, breaking things, or getting in fights.

"I agree," Ashley said.

"How are we going to get her there without her knowing something's up?" Craig asked.

"One of the girls will pick her up, and then blindfold her, telling say that there's a surprise at my house. We won't have any music playing at the time so she won't clue in. Then when she walks in we'll take off the blindfolds and yell surprise."

"Who's going to do what job now?" Jimmy asked, imagined that is would be easier if someone had a job instead of everyone doing everything.

"Ashley will pick her up that night; Craig, you and the band will plan the music; Spin will help me with invites; and Jimmy you can do the refreshments. I will also do the decorations," writing it down as she said it.

"Sounds good to me," Spinner said, pleased that he didn't have to do much.

"Well we only have a week to pull this off so lets get to work on it," Paige said getting up off the couch, and heading towards the door. As the rest just watched her leave as they stayed put. They didn't feel like quite getting up yet.


	10. The Birthday Party

The day of the party had come; Kelsie walked her locker after the third block. Only one more class and then she could go get her stuff ready to head to Sechelt, and then go over to Paige's house.

As she was opening up her locker, she heard someone holler her name, startling her a bit. "Kelsie."

Kelsie turned to her left to see Paige making her way towards her. "Hey Paige, what's up?"

"Well I wanted to talk to you about tonight," Paige, said as she leaned against the lockers, twirling her hair around her finger.

"What about it?" speculating what else they could really talk about, they had already figured out the details during class.

"There's been a little bit of a change. I have a few errands to do after school so you won't be coming right after school. Ashley will pick you up a little later."

Thinking it was silly for someone to drive her, "There's no need for her to pick me up; I know where you live."

"I know you do, but this way you won't have to bring your car back before you head to the airport," trying to convince her this was the right way to do it.

"Paige I wasn't planning to stay over night I have to be up early," being as nice as possible, not wanting to hurt her feelings after all the work Paige put into their girls night.

"Come on girl we'll make sure you're up, and we were planning on taking you," begging her.

Giving in, after all it would be nice to have a sleepover with them so that they could gossip about the boys at Degrassi, amongst other things. "Okay, I'll stay. It would be easier on my parents, and then they don't have to go to work late."

"So you just make sure that you're wearing something cute tonight," she said as she started to head down the hall.

"Paige wait," she grabbed her books, closing her locker, and darting to catch up to Paige. "Why would I need to wear something cute? I thought we were just going to stay at your house," beginning to think something was going on.

"I was thinking we might go out for a little while."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you tonight," as she headed down the opposite hall towards her last class.

"Bye Hun."

Kelsie turns around in her seat to face Craig who was looking at something closely in his notebook. To Kelsie it looked like he was really concentrating on whatever was in the notebook, but what was it? Kelsie couldn't really make it out looking upside down. It defiantly wasn't something for this class, since he wasn't one to really take many notes, so she figured he was just doing homework for another class.

"Craig."

"Yeah," not taking his eyes off the notebook.

"What are you doing after school?" not feeling like being alone all afternoon.

"Oh I have a couple of things I have to do for Joey; he's been working a lot lately so he asked me to do a couple of things for him," he lied. He hated to lie to her, especially when she meant so much, but he promised Paige.

"Everyone seems to have something to do this afternoon," a little bummed that everyone she had asked seem to have plans.

The bell rang for the end of the day. It was the last day of the week since there was a Pro D Day tomorrow. A nice break from this place Kelsie thought.

"Well I hope you have a good weekend in Sechelt," Craig said as he got up from his seat.

"I do too," excited that she would finally get to see Chris for the first time since she had moved.

As they started walking up the stairs to their lockers, "I hope you have a good birthday too!" Putting his hand on her shoulder briefly, "Have fun at Paige's tonight."

"Thank you," she said shooting a smile his way as she headed past his locker to hers.

As Craig watched, her head off he couldn't help but anxiously wait to see her face tonight when she saw what they all had done for her. He only hoped that she would love it!

He noticed the time it sad clock on the wall of the hallway at school, he needed to get home, and finish practicing his present to her; it had to be perfect for someone herself that was already perfect.

"Craig," Spinner yelled down the long hall.

"What is it; I'm just heading home," walking backwards.

"I'll be over around 5pm to help bring over the equipment to Paige's house, so make sure you're ready by then."

"Alright, see you then, but I really have to go now."

"Okay, bye," waving.

"Bye," Craig said as he walked towards the stairs.

Kelsie was in her room finishing packing, when she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly zipped up her suitcase, grabbed her coat, and headed downstairs to answer the door; she was wearing a pink vest, with a black tube top underneath, a pink plaid skirt, and her pink suede boots.

"Hey Ashley."

Ashley stood there in her low-riders, and a red sleeveless turtleneck.

"Ready?"

"Yep, just let me just turn off the lights, and then we can go," she said heading into the living room, no one else was home, her parents had gone out for dinner. THEREFORE, she wanted to make sure everything was secure before she left.

"Do you need help with your bag?" seeing that it looked heavy.

"No it's okay."

They got into Ashley's car, "I have to put a blindfold on you."

"Why?" curious what this was all about.

"Paige's orders, don't ask me. I'm not really sure," she lied.

"Alright," Kelsie turned so that Ashley could out it on. "Paige's is up to something, what is it?" knowing her too well.

"I don't know, she wouldn't tell me a thing."

They drove a couple of blocks over until the hit Cobble Hill Drive. They turned left on the road, and drove until they hit the house that read 2230. Ashley stopped right in front of it and got out of the car going right over to help Kelsie out of the car.

"We're here, grab my hand, and I'll lead you up to the house."

"Okay," with that she gave out her hand, and slowly got out of the car with a little trouble.

As they went up the pathway Ashley had help Kelsie keep a steady foot, "Okay Kelsie we're going up the stairs now, so we're going to do it slowly." As they got to the top, "We're finished; we just have to go inside."

"Can I take this off already?" a little impatient to know what the surprise Paige had in store for her.

"Not quite yet."

Ashley brought her through the door; everyone was standing around the house. She slowly brought her into the living room where the band was waiting for her to come so that they could start.

Everyone yelled surprise after Paige took off her blindfold. She defiantly had a surprised look on her face. She couldn't believe that they had done this for her. However, that was just the start; Craig had something up his sleeve that no one knew about.

"Paige you didn't have to do this," Kelsie said looking around the room with a giant smile upon her face.

"Nonsense, you seemed like you needed something like this to help you feel like this is your home."

Kelsie went and gave her a big hug, "Thanks, it really means a lot to me, more than you know."

"No problem," Jimmy said, coming over putting his arm around Ashley waist.

"Now our bands going to play a special song for you, a song that was just wrote for your party."

This excited Kelsie, she was getting her own little song to call her own. Kelsie went and sat on the stool put there for her so she could just sit and listen to the words being sung to her.

_Remember when, we never needed each other  
The best of friends like  
Sister and Brother  
We understood, we'd never be,  
Alone_

Those days are gone, and I want so much  
The night is long and I need your touch  
Don't know what to say  
I never meant to feel this way  
Don't want to be  
Alone tonight

**Chorus:**  
What can I do, to make it right  
Falling so hard so fast this time  
What did I say, what did you do?  
How did I fall in love with you?

I hear your voice  
And I start to tremble  
Brings back the child that, I resemble

I cannot pretend, that we can still be friends  
Don't want to be,  
Alone tonight

**CHORUS**

**Bridge:**  
Oh I want to say this right  
And it has to be tonight  
Just need you to know, oh yeah

I don't want to live this life  
I don't want to say goodbye  
With you I wanna spend  
The rest of my life

**CHORUS**

What can I do, to make it right  
Falling so hard so fast this time  
Everything's changed, we never knew

How did I fall,  
in love ,  
with you?

Listening to those words Kelsie knew that Craig had written this song about her. It may not be clear to everyone else but she knew it. This furred her, what right did he have to day this when she had a boyfriend. She told him that kiss hadn't meant anything. She kept telling herself this because she couldn't think that she may be falling for him. Well this wasn't going to stop her from having fun with her boyfriend.

When they were finished with the song, Kelsie went up to them, and gave them all a big hug. "That was wonderful!" When she got to giving Craig a hug she put on a fake smile, she didn't know it but he knew it wasn't a real smile.

"Thanks!" they all said.

"Now let's get this party started," she yelled.

The band started to play dancing music, everyone hitting the dance floor. Manny and J.T were dancing rather close in the middle of the floor, not really noticing anyone around them. They were too much in love to notice anything.

"Time to sing happy birthday to the birthday girl," Paige said as she brought out of the kitchen, the cake full of candles.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Kelsie, Happy Birthday to you," they all sang.

"Make a wish," Spinner said wanting to her to do it fast so he could get some cake.

Kelsie thought for a couple moments about it, and she knew what it, and then blew out the candles.

"Well I have a surprise for Kelsie, and a little for you. She's going to sing us all a song," Craig hollered.

As Kelsie heard those words, her face dropped, and as she came up, she glared at Craig. He had promised not to say a word, but he just broke that promise. She roughly grabbed his guitar, and sat down on the stool before her.

"This was unexpected, but here's a song I wrote for my boyfriend a while ago called 'Pieces of Me'."

_On a Monday, I am waiting  
Tuesday, I am fading  
And by Wednesday, I can't sleep  
Then the phone rings, I hear you  
And the darkness is a clear view  
Cuz you've come to rescue me_

Fall... With you, I fall so fast  
I can hardly catch my breath, I hope it lasts

Chorus:  
Ohhhhh  
It seems like I can finally rest my head on something real  
I like the way that feels  
Ohhhhh  
It's as if you know me better than I ever knew myself  
I love how you can tell  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me

I am moody, messy  
I get restless, and it's senseless  
How you never seem to care

When I'm angry, you listen  
Make me happy it's a mission  
And you won't stop til I'm there

Fall... Sometimes I fall so fast  
When I hit that bottom  
Crash, you're all I have

Chorus:  
Ohhhhh  
It seems like I can finally rest my head on something real  
I like the way that feels  
Ohhhhh  
It's as if you known me better than I ever knew myself  
I love how you can tell  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me

How do you know everything I'm about to say?  
Am I that obvious?  
And if it's written on my face...  
I hope it never goes away... yeah

On a Monday, I am waiting  
And by Tuesday, I am fading into your arms...  
So I can breathe

Chorus:  
Ohhhhh  
It seems like I can finally rest my head on something real  
I like the way that feels  
Ohhhhh  
It's as if you've know me better than I ever knew myself  
I love how you can tell  
Ohhhhh  
I love how you can tell  
Ohhhhh  
I love how you can tell  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me  
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me...

Everyone was amazed by her ability to sing, none of them knew she had it in her. As she finished they all clapped for her performance, coming up to her.

"That was great!" Marco said patting her on the back.

"Thanks," she said smiling. That actually felt good she thought. She had done it no problem.

After everyone had finish, telling how great she did, Kelsie began to get a little warm, and decided that she needed some air, so she went and sat on the front porch. Craig saw her go outside, followed her out, and sat beside her.

"Is something the matter?" Craig asked seeing a frown upon her face.

"Yeah, what gave you the right to do that?" you could see infuriate in her eyes.

"Do what?" acting as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Telling everyone that I could sing and that I would come up and play. Making me feel obligated to do it," she started to roar, standing up and throwing her hands in the air.

"I though maybe it would be nice thing to show your friends your amazing talent when they threw you this party."

"Well you promised that you wouldn't tell anyone until I was ready," she continued to shriek walking back and forth on the step.

"I'm sorry," he said looking to the ground.

"And what was with that song you wrote?" bringing up his other wrongdoing, the one that pissed her off even more.

"What about that?"

"I know you wrote it about me. Why, after I told you that kiss meant nothing."

"I think you were lying," he spat back.

"How dare you?" she said slapping him across the face. "You don't know how I feel about Chris; you don't know how we were when we were together so you don't know anything!" Kelsie began to run up the stairs.

Grabbing her arm to stop her, "No I don't, but I know what I felt when we kissed," bringing her into another kiss. This time she quickly pulled away, without looking back, she walked away from him.

The rest of the night, they both avoided each other. The last thing they both needed was another confrontation with each other. Craig knew that it is just what it would be like because of the way she acted outside; he needed to let her cool off. Craig worried that they may never get back all that he worked for, that their relationship was forever ruined.

Around everyone else Kelsie acted as if nothing happened, and kept an up beat attitude through out the rest of the party, counting down the time until she was in Chris's arms again. She especially wanted to get away from Craig; he defiantly wasn't in her good books right now. As long as she had known him, he had never been this way.


	11. Visit with Chris

Kelsie got off the plane in Vancouver wearing low-riser jeans, purple sweater with white tank top showing through, and her white heels with pointy toe. She had put her hair in a ponytail, with her bangs pinned back.

She came through gate 10 to see Chris waiting there with a single white rose in his hand; she looked to the left of him to see that he had brought Blake with him. She wished that she didn't have anyone in front of her so that she could run right to him, but there was an elderly couple in front of her. She tried to get by them but there was no hope. It felt like forever before she was able to get past.

Chris stood there eagerly awaiting his love, with his brown hair spiked up, and his blue sweater on, that brought out his eyes.

He had missed her so much over the last couple of months. It hadn't been easy for him being apart from her, you could ask his friends. At times, he just wanted to stay home and talk to her on the phone instead of doing things that any normal senior students would be doing. He saw her come through those doors and a giant smile came upon his face, she look more beautiful to him then the last time he had saw her, like a glowing angel!

Kelsie was finally able to get to him, and when she did, she took the rose into her hand and jumped up on him throwing her legs around his waist. She leaned down and kissed his soft lips, not caring that they were in the middle of an airport. She needed to try to convince herself that she was just as much in love with him as she was before she left.

"I missed you so much," Kelsie, said as she jumped off him smelling the rose.

"I could tell!" he said bugging her.

Kelsie turned over to Blake, and gave him a hug, "I missed you too Blake," she joked.

"That's so sweet, I missed you too," he laughed, she just punch him lightly on the shoulder as she used to regularly do.

"Why don't we go get your stuff from baggage claim and then head off to the ferry?" Chris suggested, grabbing Kelsie's hand.

"Sounds good to me, but you can carry it," she told him.

"I wouldn't be a gentleman if I let you carry it," Chris said playing around.

"I'm just bugging; I know I wouldn't even have to ask." Looking over at Blake, "So Blake aren't you suppose to be in school?"

"Yeah, but since my parents are away for a week I came to keep Chris company. He would have gone crazy waiting here all day alone."

"Yeah that's true," knowing how impatient he could be.

"Hey," Chris sounding offended.

"So what did you guys do today in Vancouver?" curious to know if they had went shopping last minute for her.

"We went clothes shopping, ate, that's about it," Blake said.

"Did you get me a birthday present?" she asked now sounding like a little kid.

"Well I guess you'll have to wait and see." Chris said.

"You know I'm not good at waiting," she begged, giving him the puppy eyes.

"That's not going to work on me this time," having a hard time saying no that face of hers.

"That's what you always say," she grinned.

"No this time I'm determined to keep it a secret," trying to keep his ground.

As they walked to baggage claim, "You guys make me sick sometimes, it seems like no time has passed by," Blake wined as he watched them look so in love.

"That's why we're perfect for each other. You're just jealous that you don't have someone like me," she joked putting her arm around his shoulder.

Kelsie sat on the couch looking out the window at Chris's house, at the view of the bay, while Chris was in the kitchen with his mom. The night looked so peaceful, not a cloud in the sky. She was glad she was here, but it felt a little different being back after being away for so long. Her mind kept on going to her new life without her boyfriend there everyday, a life that she had turned to someone else and gotten a little too close. Craig came into her brain, just the thought of him right now made her angry, especially after what he pulled last night. She thought he had much more sense, especially after the talk they had after the first kiss.

Chris gazed from the kitchen into the living room where Kelsie sat. He couldn't figure out why she was in there all by herself. He looked at her face and saw that she was distant, that she was far away. Since they arrived at his house, she didn't seem herself; she hadn't talked her head off with his family as she usually had.

Something was bugging her, and he could figure out what. He got up from the stool that he was sitting on and went into the living room, and sat beside her, putting his arms around her waist. "Kels, what's the matter?" he asked with great concern.

Kelsie turned around to face him, leaning on the arm of the couch with her legs crossed right in front of her. "Chris I'm fine, I'm just a little tired from the party my friends threw me last night. We were up pretty late," she lied, knowing that it would just break his heart if he ever knew.

"Okay, why don't you go to bed and rest. I'll be in there a little later." Chris knew she was lying but didn't feel like arguing with her right now. She would be stubborn about it, and she would only get mad at him for not leaving it alone. He didn't want to ruin her stay.

"Alright, night," she said leaning in for a goodnight kiss before getting up and heading into Chris's room.

"Night, I love you."

Kelsie turned around to face him, "I love you too!"

The next morning Kelsie woke up with Chris's arms around her waist, and his head in the crook of her neck, it put a smile to her face. She felt a little better then she did yesterday, she was more sure that Chris is what she wanted.

"Good morning," Chris said kissing the nape of her neck. "How was your sleep?"

"Good, I feel much better," she said as she rubbed his hand.

"Happy Birthday!" making her smile, knowing that she was here, spending it with him.

"Thanks," looking into his eyes, with her hand on his cheek, "being with you makes it an extra special one."

"So what does the birthday girl want to do today?"

Kelsie turned around to face Chris. "How about we visit our friends this afternoon, and then have the whole evening to ourselves," she said kissing down his bare chest.

"Sounds good to me if this is what I can expect," he joked, rubbing her back.

"Yeah and maybe a little bit more," she teased, biting on his ear lobe.

Being turned on, but knowing that they had to get up and going, "Stop it; you can't tease me like that."

"You know I can," tugging on it even more.

Wining, "Stop, that's not nice."

"No, maybe not for you, but its fun for me," she laughed, sticking her tongue at her.

Glaring at her, "You're mean, you know that."

"I know, but it's my job."

Chris pushed Kelsie off him, pinned her to the bed, crawled on top of her, and began tickling her, making her laugh uncontrollable.

"Chris, stop it," she laughed. "That's not fair."

"Then you stop teasing me."

Kelsie puts out her hand out for Chris to shake, "Deal."

Getting up off her, "Now why don't you go take a shower and get ready, then we can go out."

"Alright," she said jumping off the bed, heading to Chris's bathroom.

Kelsie and Chris drove down the highway towards Halfmoon Bay where Blake lived. Since his parents weren't home, he invited people to come over and see Kelsie. His place was in the middle of nowhere, in the boonies. There were trees everywhere, and not that many streetlights. It was like living in the woods. How anyone lived out here Kelsie did not know.

When they got there, Tanya and Connor were sitting on the porch steps talking among themselves, so when they seen Chris's car pull up they ran to the passengers side to greet Kelsie.

"Hey chicky, how's it going?" Tanya said as she gave Kelsie a big hug.

"Not bad. How about yourself?"

"Good, Connor and I are going back out."

"Since when, I talked to you Wednesday and you said nothing about it."

"Thursday night, it just kind of happened," she shrugged.

"Wow! It's about damn time."

Chris came around to the other side of the car where they were all standing, and talking with a smile on his face. It was nice to see that Kelsie was in better spirits today then she was last night.

"Connor come and give me a hug," she said with open arms.

"So how is life in Toronto…wild?" Connor asked curios to know if it was as he had always heard it.

"No, but it's very much different from Sechelt. You have much more to do besides getting yourself into trouble," she joked.

"Good to have you back; it's not the same without you."

"Glad to be back!" she smiled.

"Come on Kelsie lets go inside," Tanya said grabbing Kelsie's arm, pulling her away from the boys.

"Yeah, let's see what Blake's up to." Turning to the boys, "You boys coming?"

"Yeah in a minute sweety," Chris said.

Walking towards the house, "Kelsie, so tell me how the situation with Craig is going?"

"It's getting worse, putting a sour face just thinking about it.

"What do you mean?"

"Thursday night they threw me a birthday party, and he wrote me a song, and in it, it said that he's falling in love with me."

"I can see what you mean."

"I talked to him about it, saying that I told him that the kiss meant nothing. He told me that I was lying, and then he kissed me again. So now I've decided that I can no longer be friends with him anymore."

"Maybe it's for the best to stay away from him if he's going to try to break you and Chris up."

They both heard the boys getting closer so they stopped talking about it. The last thing Kelsie wanted was to have Chris know about it. She didn't want to hurt him, or even lose him.

As they walked into the living room, Kelsie saw all of her best friends from school sitting in the living room, chatting away. There was a big sign hung up that said Happy Birthday.

"Hey, I'm home!!!" Kelsie said coming in through the living room.

"Happy Birthday," they all said, greeting her with hugs.

"Aw you guys are so sweet!" astonished that they had done this for her.

"Now why don't you come in the kitchen, we made you lunch," Karen said.

Kelsie turned around to Chris, putting her hands around his waist, "You planned this all didn't you?"

"Yeah," he smiled.

"I can't believe it, you're the best," kissing him on the lips.

"Well I try. Now let's go enjoy this," he grabbed her hand, leading her into the kitchen where there was a platter of food.

Kelsie grabs a Bacardi Silver, "Thank you all for being here so that I can really enjoy my visit."

"We did it because we love you and really missed you," Jenny said.

Kelsie sat on Chris's lap as she talked with her friends, trying to catch up on all that's happened since she left. They all helped her keep her mind off the events that had unraveled these last few weeks. Making her feel like she never left, as if she still had a place here.

Kelsie and Chris sat in the living room around the fireplace drinking hot chocolate. Kelsie was leaning against Chris's chest, while he played with her hair. They didn't even need to talk; they just enjoyed being in each other presence.

"Chris am I ever going to get my birthday present. I've been waiting all day," she pouted.

"Patient is a virtue," saying it to irritate her.

"You know I'm far from that," making fun of herself.

"Alright," he said as he grabbed the present out of his hoody, presenting it right in front of her. It was a little velvet box.

Kelsie took it from his hand and started to unwrap it. She looked at it; it was a silver band with hearts indented all around it. "Aw what's this for?"

"It's a promise ring, promising that one day I will exchange it for an engagement ring when we're ready to take that leap into marriage."

Leaning back against his chest, "Chris that's such a sweet gift, I couldn't have asked for anything better."

Putting his arms around her waist, kissing the top of her head, "I just wanted to show you how much you mean to me, and that I know we will get married in the future."

"I've always thought that," she said.

"Let me put it on," She turned around to face her, but still sat upon his neck. He took the ring and put it on her ring finger.

"I love you."

"I love you too," brushing her hair away from her neck, and then he started to kiss her neck. Kelsie tipping her head a little to allow better access to it, leaning back farther into his chest. He soon went to biting her ear softly causing her to moan aloud. Luckily, his parents had gone out for the night, leaving them to have the house to themselves.

"Why don't we take this into the bedroom?" Chris suggested.

"Alright."

Chris picked her up and carried her to his room where he placed her on his bed. He joined her on the bed, lying beside her. She leaned in kiss him, and started to get rough with her kisses crushing his lips. She rolled on top of him taking control of the situation; she wanted to prove to herself that this is where she belonged.

"I love you," Kelsie moaned.

"I love you too."

Kelsie pulled off Chris's shirt and started to kiss down his chest, before going back to his lips. Chris took back control, rolling her back on her back, ripping open her blouse. He kiss down her chest, down her tummy, when he hit her pants he reached for the top button and started to undo her pants, then slid them off. It went on to get even hotter between the two, letting out the sexual frustration that they both had after so many months.

The next morning was a sad one, a day they both didn't look forward to. Saying good-bye again, who knew when the next time they would see each other? They both woke up with big smiles on their faces after what had happen the night before. It had been a night to remember.

"Morning," Kelsie said looking into Chris's eyes.

"Morning, have a good nights rest?"

"Yes, especially after last night," she smiled.

"Yeah, I enjoyed myself to," he laugh. "We better get up, you need to pack, have some breakfast, and then we need to catch the ferry."

"What time is it?" hoping they would have a little time to just relax before they would have to rush about.

Chris looks at his watch, "10 o'clock."

"Yeah I guess you're right," a little disappointed.

Kelsie and Chris did all they had to do, and rushed to catch the 11:30 ferry. They just made it in time, and that was a relief because other wise she might not catch her flight, and her parents wouldn't be too impressed about that. With the ferry ride and the Vancouver traffic it took about two hours to get to the airport, just thinking of her going home made Chris depressed. It just like losing her all over again. He really hoped to get into a University in Toronto so that they didn't have to do this long distant thing much longer.

"Chris thanks for everything you did to make this a special weekend, I only wish it could have been a longer trip, maybe next time," she smiled slightly.

"Me too, but it's always worth seeing you even if it's only for a few seconds."

Kelsie kissed him, "How am I going to live without you any longer?"

"I know what you mean, but lets cross our fingers, and hope I get in a school there."

"I know." She held him in her arms hoping not to have to let him go, knowing that she will have to deal with Craig tomorrow. She wasn't looking forward to that, not one bit. She would do all she could to try to avoid him.

"I'll phone you tomorrow, to see how your trip was."

"Everyone going to Toronto, this is your last call to board the plane."

Hearing this, "Well I guess I have to go, I love you," she held him tighter, not wanting to let go.

"I love you too," he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her lips.

"Bye," she waved as she went to the gate, then mouthed I love you again before turning to walk through the door.

Tears ran down Chris's cheeks. All of a sudden, he felt like this was going to be the last time he would ever see her, and it startled him. What could tare them apart? This just made him to start to worry more.


	12. The Unexpected

Kelsie arrive at school beaming, from head to toe. She just had the best weekend of her life, and she wasn't going to let anything get her down.

Paige, who was leaning against the handrail, greeted her as she walked up to the school. Eager to know, "Girl, tell me the details of your weekend."

"Well, he greeted me at the airport with a single white rose."

Interrupting her, "How sweet!"

"We talked all the way back to his house, about things going on, and before you ask, no I didn't tell him. The next day we went to Blake's house to celebrate my birthday with a few friends. Then he made me dinner, and while we were sitting around the fireplace he gave me this promise ring," she said showing it to her.

"It's beautiful, what does this mean?" needing to know all the details.

"That one day we will get married," as they walked up the stairs to the second floor they passed Craig who was talking with Jimmy and Marco.

"Hey, Jimmy and Marco," Kelsie said totally giving Craig the cold shoulder, then slightly looked at him giving him the evil eye. You could see the vengeance in her eyes.

"Anything else happen?"

They were still close enough to Craig so he could hear it clearly. Kelsie wanted to hurt Craig, "Let's just say afterwards we had one hot night."

Before Paige could respond she was interrupted, "Could Kelsie Fitzgerald please come to the office, there's a message for you."

"Why don't we get our books from our locker, and then I'll come with you to the office since we have first block together," Paige suggested.

"Okay." Wondering what it was all about, "I wonder why I would have a message so early in the morning."

"Who knows," she said grabbing her books, closing her locker and walking to Kelsie's locker.

"Chris made the doubts I was having about a long distant relationship go away. Hopefully by July he will be here if he gets into a university over here."

"I hope so too, and then I'll finally get to meet him," wanting to meet the guy that her best friend was always talking about.

"He might come for spring break if he has the money."

"That would be great, I know we all want to meet him," she said as Kelsie slammed her locker shut.

"I know he wants to meet you all, he's so thankful that you made me feel so welcomed here. He was a little worried that I would have a hard time fitting into a new place," remembering her first week here, how Craig had introduced her to his friends, and they welcomed her with open arms.

They walked into the office together, "I'm Kelsie Fitzgerald; you have a message for me."

"Yes, here it is," the secretary handed it to her.

_Kelsie,_

_You need to phone home right away. It's an emergency._

_Mom_

Kelsie was a little worried about what the emergency was, did something happen to her dad? "May I use the phone please?"

"Yes you may," handing it to her.

Kelsie hand shook as she dialed her mother's cell number, "Mom, what's up?"

"I got a phone call after you left for school this morning. She tried calling last night, but she said the phone line was tied up."

"Who?" she said with great concern. Who would want to talk her so badly?

"Mrs. Mewhort."

"What did she want?" looking very confused she began to shake.

"Hunny, after Chris dropped you off, he was driving and got into a head on collision with a drunk driver."

"He's alright, right!" she asked in a harsh, as tears began to fill in her eyes.

"There was too much damage; he died before they could get him to the hospital. I'm so sorry!" She felt so bad that her daughter had to go through this, "Why don't you go home?"

Kelsie didn't even answer her mom, she dropped the phone, and her face went white. She didn't cry or anything, she just stood there, looking straight ahead at the wall, not even blinking.

Paige saw this and became alarmed, she knew whatever her mom told her must be really big, "Hun what did she say?"

"He's…dead," she said as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Who?" confused of whom she would be talking about.

"Chris," she wept.

Paige felt her pain, she put her arm around Kelsie's shoulder, "Hun, come sit down, tell me about it."

"His car was hit head on. He died last night. And of course, I had to be on the phone with Ashley so I didn't even get the phone call. It's my entire fault."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, do you want me to drive you home?"

"Huh," she asked having not really listened to what she had just said.

"Do you want me to drive you home?"

"Yeah, that would be nice; I don't think I could drive if I tried." Paige helped Kelsie up, having a hard time getting her to even walk since she was in shock still.

Paige walked in the cafeteria at lunch, looking a little down; she had just spent the last couple of hours with Kelsie as she cried on her shoulder. She eventually tired herself out and fallen asleep.

"Paige where have you been, I've been looking for you forever?" Spinner asked with concern, it just wasn't like her. She didn't seem herself.

"I was with Kelsie, she's really upset," not sure if she should say anymore.

"About what?" Craig asked thinking that it was his fault. He knew she hadn't gotten over what happened Thursday, not by a long shot.

"This morning she found out her boyfriend Chris was killed after dropping her off at the airport."

Craig wanted to run to her, but didn't know if that would be a good idea after what had happened last week. "She must be heartbroken."

"She's at home right now sleeping. The worst thing is she was so happy this morning, Chris had given her a promise ring."

"We should watch her these next few weeks she's going to need us," Ashley suggested.

"Yeah, I agree, but after the cold shoulder she gave me today, I'm not sure if she'll want me around her," Craig said, not sure she would forgive a second time.

"Well you can at least try," Paige said in a harsh tone; mad that he was thinking of himself at this moment.

"I will, but don't count on it," sounding real doubtful.


	13. Change in Attitude

Kelsie walked over to her friends the next day before school, with a big smile on her face. It was like yesterday never even happened, as if it was all a dream. Her friends were lost, how could she be happy after losing someone she loved?

"Hey you guys, what's up?" she asked with an upbeat tone. While her friends looked at her as if she was crazy, as if she was an alien.

"Kels…we didn't expect you to be here today," Paige said, still trying to understand what was going on.

"Why?" acting like she didn't know the reason to that question.

"Well for one your boyfriends just died," Ashley pointed out a little rudely.

"We all die sometime, that's life." Rolling her eyes, "It's not a big deal. I just have to go on and live my life."

"But it's only been a day since you found out," Paige reminded her. Trying to get her to open up, to get her to really talk to her.

"Yeah, but what's the point of crying over it, it's not going to change anything," she roared, getting mad that they were pestering about this.

Her friends looked at each other, while she went on. They didn't know what to say to help her. They really started to worry now this wasn't normal behavior. How do you help someone who acts like nothing happened, denying that you're not okay?

"Well I have to go meet with a couple of my teachers on what I missed yesterday, talk to you later," she said as she walked off.

"Guys she's not acting normal, she in a state of shock. This is worse than I thought," Paige stated looking at Kelsie as she walked down the hall, hoping that she would be able to get over this so she could properly grieve.

"How can she just act like that so soon?" Jimmy asked, knowing that it didn't seem normal.

"Probably because she thinks if she mourns then it will become reality. I don't think she wants to come to terms with it, she not ready to let him go," Ellie said. Knowing how it felt when she lost her father in the war.

"Poor girl," Paige said leaning on her locker, she felt like she was going to cry for her. She hated to see how far she was pushing herself to be okay. She just wanted to go to her, and tell her to let it all out.

"She'll come around, just give her time," Marco said.

"What if she doesn't? What if she just turns into a totally different person?" Paige asked as tears slid down her cheeks, not wanting to lose her best friend.

Spinner walked over to her and pulled her into his arms, rubbing her back, "Paige it's going to be alright, I promise."

"I just don't want to lose her. If she keeps this all bottled up, she's going to turn away from everything and us. She's become like one of my best friends," she cried. "It's just so hard to watch her like this."

"We'll all make sure that doesn't happen," everyone nodded to agree.

During the next few weeks, things only got worse. Nobody seemed to know how to reach her. Every time they tried, she would just say that she was fine, or make a reason to leave. Thursday after school, Paige decided to go and talk to Kelsie about the way she had been acting all week. This had really effected her behavior; she wasn't the same person anymore. She was someone that none of her friends was fond of anymore. They didn't even want to be around her with the new attitude of hers; she seemed to make friends with some not so great people.

Paige walked up to her while she was talking to James, a senior in the hallway by her locker. She tapped her on her shoulder, "Can I talk to you Kelsie?"

"Yeah," you could hear annoyance in her tone.

"In private," she said firmly, glaring at James.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow night," Kelsie said to James.

"What's with you?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this new attitude of yours."

"There's nothing wrong with it!" she said rudely, offended that she even suggested that.

"Then why do you act like it never happen, that he never existed," trying to get her to open her eyes, let out any kind of emotion.

"Is me moping around going to bring him back?" she shouted, trying to defend her actions.

Paige just stared at her, and felt like crying, thinking that she wasn't the same girl anymore. " No," she said silently.

"I didn't think so. So if you wouldn't mind excusing me, I really need to get to The Dot to meet a few people," she said turning on her toes, flipping her hair back, and rolling her eyes.

This wasn't the girl Paige knew a couple weeks ago this girl was a BITCH. Someone that Paige didn't particularly like at this moment. Was it all hopeless, had they really lost her? Paige didn't know how much longer they could keep on trying to get her back before enough was enough for them. Just thinking of this made Paige cry again, it seem like that was all she had done this past few weeks.

Friday night had come and there was a big party at James's house. Kelsie was ecstatic about the party. This is just what she needed to forget about Chris. She came in a knock out outfit, a yellow backless shirt, with a real short light green skirt. She wanted to look hot tonight in hopes to make herself feel better, to take away the pain she seemed to hide behind inside. She wanted to anything to forget.

Kelsie spotted James as she walked in and strolled right over to him, "Hey."

"Hey, I'm so glad you came," he said putting his arm around her waist, bringing her closer to him.

"So am I," she smirked.

"I've wanted to ask you out for months, but I thought you were going with that Craig dude," he said, gazing at her.

"Oh that guy…no never," she laughed. Not in his lifetime, she thought, he's caused enough damage for a lifetime.

"Good," he said leaning in and kissed her on the lips. She opened her mouth to allow him more access. He grabbed her hand, and started to lead her towards the stairs.

Kelsie stopped him, putting her hand on his chest, "Why don't we do a couple of shots first?" If she was going to have sex with him, she didn't want to have to remember anything, the thought sickened her, but at least she could focus on something else, but this guilt she had inside.

"Alright, anything you want," he said kissing her on her neck.

When Craig walked in the front door he saw Kelsie flirty with James, she had a vile of tequila in between her boobs, and a lime in her mouth. He slowly licked the salt off her neck, took the vile from in between her breast, and then took the lime from her mouth. Soon James started kissing her hard on the lips, crushing them, pushing her up against the wall, putting his hand up her skirt. Just watching this sickened him.

When James decided, they needed to go somewhere more private, so that he could do things to her. He started to lead her through the crowd towards the stairs again. Craig saw this, and was outraged; she wasn't the Kelsie he knew a few days ago. He wasn't going to let this happen, not when he knew it was so wrong, he went up to her, pushed James away from Kelsie, grabbing her by the arm, taking her up to one of the rooms to talk.

"So you're the jealous type?" she said seductively putting her arms around his neck, kissing his lips forcing him to kiss her back. He began to respond to the kiss, I mean who wouldn't when they were in love with the person.

Stopping the kiss, and tearing her arms off from around his neck. "Kelsie, why are you doing this?" It took a lot of will power to stop it, but he knew it wasn't right.

"Don't you want me; isn't that what you said in your song?" she sneered, getting up in his face.

"You know I do, but not like this, not while you're still hurting. Not when this isn't really what you want," trying to break through the big wall she had put up.

"I feel nothing, I'm just numb," she yelled.

"So you just throw yourself at guys?"

"Go to Hell!" she shouted heading for the door. Who was he really to point a finger at, I bet he's done things he regretted, she thought.

"Doing this isn't going to make you forget," he yelled.

Kelsie stopped in her tracks, turning around to face him, "Why him? Chris didn't deserve to die; he had so much to live for. He had a bright future ahead of him he was going to school to be a doctor; he really wanted to help people, especially kids. But no, he's not ever going get to do that," she screamed in anger that he had been taken so early, taken from her, tears came flowing down like a river.

Craig gazed upon her, and brushed the tears away from her cheek, "I know how hard this is; I lost my mother, and my father. When I went through this, I tried to kill myself. I wanted the pain to go away so bad, but I had a friend helped me see that wasn't the way."

Kelsie sat on the bed, feeling so helpless, "What am I going to do without him, he believed in me when I didn't even believe in myself. Who's going to believe in me now?"

Craig sat beside her on the bed, draping his arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him, "There are other people that believe in you."

"Like who?" looking up at him.

Looking into her eyes, "Like me."

"You do," she asked looking up at him.

"Why else would I have gotten you to sing at your party?"

Kelsie laid her head on his shoulder, looking at her ring, with her hand out, "He gave me this ring for my birthday as a promise ring, but I don't feel like I even deserve it."

"Why?"

Kelsie stood up, looking back at him, "Because I cheated on him, and never found the courage to even tell him. When I was there, he knew something was wrong, but I told him it was nothing, that I was fine. I was scared how he might react, I loved him so much!"

"I can see that now, I'm sorry for saying that you were lying," he said holding her in his arms, stroking her hair.

"I know you are," taking a deep breath, "but you weren't totally wrong."

Stunned by what he just heard, "What do you mean?"

"I was drawn to you, we were so similar to each other, and you seemed to understand me just like my boyfriend did, but I had to ignore it because Chris was who I wanted to spend my life with."

"Wow," he was amazed to hear those words, but now wasn't the time to really talk about that.

"Before I left Vancouver we were talking about when he moved here how much better it would be, that we would never be apart from each other again."

"Nothing ever happens how we would like it; just remember that he loved you," trying to help her feel better.

"I don't know how to move on without him…I'm scared."

"Your friends will help you through this; we'll be your shoulder to cry on, day or night. I know Paige wants to help real badly."

Kelsie stared at the ground, "I was so horrible to her these last few weeks; she probably hates me now, especially after the scene yesterday."

"If you apologize then I think you guys can get through it," knowing that Paige longed for the old Kelsie to come back.

"Thanks!"

"Now after you left for Sechelt the boys and I were talking, and they would love it if you joined our band as a vocalist, and guitarist." He was hoping that it would get her mind off the bad.

"That would be awesome, a perfect way to honor Chris," remembering the many times he would beg her to play a song for him.

"Why would that be?"

"He would be so proud to know that I finally showing my talent. He was always trying to get me to sing for everyone,"

Hearing her say that made him a little sad. He loved her, but knowing that she didn't love him back hurt. "Yeah, and maybe it will help you get your mind off things."

"I'm forever grateful to you for getting me out of the rut I was in. I don't think I would have gotten out of it without someone really pushing me as you did. I mean I tried to get out, but then I kept thinking of the guilt I felt, and it made me just want all the pain to go away. The more I was mean and not myself, the more I felt numb."

Craig smiled, "You know I would do anything you."

"Yeah I do," she leaned up and kissed him the lips, "You're my best friend, and I couldn't ask for a better one. Now we probably should go back downstairs before someone starts to think something happened between the two of us," she joked, nudging him.

"It wouldn't be that bad for people to think," he joked.

"You're bad," she shoved him.

"Yeah I know," he grabbed her hand; they walked out the door, down the stairs.


	14. Will You Forgive Me!

Kelsie went over to Paige's house on Saturday morning, with a huge hangover, the sun was making her head hurt, but this was something she really had to do. She wasn't even sure if Paige would talk to her, but she had to try at least, she owed her that much.

She was a little nervous as she came to the front door, but she forces herself to knock. She waited there for a few moments before the door slowly opened. It was Paige's brother Dylan; he stood there glaring down on her, making her a little uneasy.

"Dylan…can I speak to Paige…please," she looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Not if you're going to upset her again. She's been crying none stop these last couple of days," he said rudely, glaring at her with hate. He hated that this girl in front of him had treated his sister so badly. He wasn't if he really trusted that she would do it again.

"I came over to apologize to her," just hoping that he would let her in.

"Alright, but if she tells you to leave listen because if you don't I will have to force you to myself."

Dylan moved out of her way so that she could enter, she moved towards there stairs, climbing them to get to Paige's room, as she arrived in front of her room, she stops for a moment, and took at big breath before knocking on the door.

Paige heard her door knock, she wasn't sure if she was up to talking to anyone, even if it was a family member, she looked terrible her eyes were all red and puffy from all the crying she had done. "Who is it?"

"Kelsie…can I come in?"

What did she want? Did she want to start another fight, Paige thought, but she wanted to know what she had to say, "You may."

Dylan had been right, she had been crying a lot; this only made Kelsie feel worse for how she acted. She looked to the ground, "I'm sorry how I've been acting; I should have never taken it out on you or anyone."

"That's for sure," Paige said snotty with a roll of her eyes.

"I wanted to believe he wasn't gone, so thinking that everything was alright I thought was the best way to do that."

"Yeah, but then what was with the attitude?"

"Well, it became harder and harder to pretend, and I became just so numb from it that it was the only way I seemed to feel anything. But it still don't excuse the way I treated anyone," feeling ashamed of herself.

"No it doesn't."

"I blamed myself for what happened to him, I mean if I didn't come, then he wouldn't have been there at that time, plus it didn't help that I still never told him about what happened. I mean what kind of person am I to go and kiss another when I suppose to be so in love with him."

"We're all only human, we all make mistakes. The accident though wasn't your fault, it was that guy who decided to get in his car, and drive drunk."

"It's just I've never lost someone so close to me. I just lost it, we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, and then someone had to drink and drive, and take that from me, changing my whole life. Now I don't know what I'm going to do with my life," tears rolled down her cheeks.

Paige came over to her and put her arms around her, "Hun he would want you to follow your dreams for yourself, to be happy."

"Yeah, but he was someone who kept me strong; I could be upset and I just have to talk to him, and I would feel better. I don't have any other person here like that."

"Hun, no one said any of this would be easy, but when ever you feel like that, phone one of us up to talk. We'll try our best to help you."

"Thanks," she gave a slight smile.

Changing the subject to brighten up the mood, "So what are you doing today?"

"Well I have to go to Craig's for a practice, and then I'm all free."

"What do you mean practice?" confused, especially when she thought she were still mad at him.

"Well Craig and the guys want me to be part of their band."

A little surprised, but knew exactly why Craig had let her join, "Aw that's so cool, you're the first girl they have even thought of letting in their band."

"Wow, well how you would like to come with me, then after we could have a REAL girl's night out."

"Sounds good to me, just let me get dress and then we can go."

"Alright," she said leaving her room to let her change.

Paige and Kelsie drove over to Craig's place to find the guys talking, so they stood outside the garage door, and decided to listen to what they were talking about. Every girl wanted to know, what a guy thought about.

"So, what happened last night man?" Marco asked. "I saw you come in to house party, and then all of sudden you were gone."

"Well I kind of had to save Kelsie from doing something stupid with the Jason guy."

"So did she thank you? Or THANK YOU?" Spinner asked, wanting to know if he got anything in return for his help.

Craig hit Spinner on the arm, "Not in that way! At first she was trying to kiss me, but I couldn't do that to her when she really didn't mean it. We talked for a while, and I think the real Kelsie is back."

"My hero!" Jimmy joked getting down onto one knee in front of Craig, with his hands on his heart.

Craig pushed him out of the way, "Come on."

"I never did that Jimmy," Kelsie laughed as her and Paige walked through the door.

"So how are you doing today?" Craig asked, wondering if her head hurt after drinking so much.

"Okay, better than last night. I had myself a cryfest after you dropped me off at home," looking at him and only him.

"Just think baby steps," Marco said.

"Why would that be?" Kelsie looked confused at what he was talking about.

"Because it will take little baby steps to get through a tragic ordeal such as yours."

"I don't know if I'll ever fully get over it," she admitted, looking down at her ring. "Craig, can I talk to you?"

"Sure," confused about what she may want.

They both walked out of the garage onto the front deck, sitting on the swing. They began to swing on it, "What did you want?"

"I'm sorry again that I played with your emotions," looking at him.

"It's not all your fault, I shouldn't have read so much into it when I knew you had a boyfriend," leaning on the back of the swing.

"But now that I've shown a part of me to others. I think it's time you let others see the other side. Let others truly in."

"I'm not sure I'm ready," not wanting others to think he wasn't tough anymore.

"I wasn't sure I was ready, but I had to do it anyways."

"But…"

"No butts," she interrupted. "When are you to let people get close enough to love you? To know your whole story before you came here."

It scared Craig to know she could read him this well. No other person he met had very been able to do that. Tears glistened in the corner of Craig's eyes, "You don't even get how it feels."

"No I don't, but you won't even tell me. I'm your best friend, yet you don't share what you're truly feeling. The closes you've come was when you wrote me that song telling me that you loved me."

"I don't feel like talking about this. We should go practice," he said trying to change the subject, doing anything to avoid having to bare his soul, something that he was so scared of doing. He began to walk back towards the garage. Kelsie knew that he pretended to be happy, even if he wasn't all the time.


	15. The Phone Call

Sunday afternoon Kelsie sat on her couch that faced her French doors in her room that lead to the deck. She was looking out the doors at the yard, when her telephone rang. After it rang twice, she answered it. "Hello."

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Blake asked as he laid on his couch at home.

"A little tired of hearing that same question," she said rolling her eyes.

"Sorry!"

"It's okay; I've just had such a rough couple weeks. I almost did something real stupid," hating herself for even doing almost doing it, for almost not letting anytime past by after he died.

"What would that be?" thinking it couldn't be as bad as she thought.

"Almost slept with some guy."

"I see, and why would you do that?"

"I don't know I just wanted to feel something again. I felt so numb after hearing the news. I went around acting as if life goes on, I was such happy mood, but the truth of the matter I just didn't know how to cope with it other wise."

"Aw Kels, I wish we were there for you when you're going through this," he said with sympathy.

"How's his family doing?" she worried about them. She hadn't found the courage yet to pick up the phone to talk to them, knowing that it would make it even more real.

"Not good, his mom had to be taken home half way through the funeral, she couldn't handle it. She cried hysterical, I felt so bad just watching it all happen."

"I was going to phone her, but I couldn't bring myself to dial the number."

"You should, I think she would really like to talk to you, especially when you and Chris were so close. After you moved, she said you were like another daughter to her, and couldn't wait until it was official. She also said you were the best thing to happen to Chris, she saw how happy you made him everyday, and didn't think anyone else would ever be able to do that."

It was very hard to hear these words, but at the same time, it was nice to know that Mrs. Mewhort felt this way about her, but she wouldn't if she knew the secret that Kelsie kept, "Would you email me photos of you guys together?"

"Yeah, but why?" curious to know why she would need them.

"I think for a Christmas present for Mrs. Mewhort I'm going to make a remembrance video tape for her and the family."

"That would be really kewl!"

"Yeah, I want to make her Christmas as special as it can be under the circumstances. So how is everyone else?"

"Holding up, we've been sharing old stories about times we shared with him. They all say hi, and send their condolences, Tanya has wanted to call but she just didn't know what to say to you. Everyone's actually doing something to send to you themselves."

"What would that be?" nosy like always.

"I can't do that, I swore under oath not to tell you."

"Fine," she pouted, "Tell them I say hi though."

"I will, what have you been up to?"

"Well as in yesterday I'm in a band."

"It's about time!" letting out something that Chris had told him, that he wasn't suppose to.

"What? How did you know I could sing?"

"I have my ways," he gloated.

"Chris told you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but we were best friends, he was just so proud of you, he couldn't keep it in. He wanted everyone to know about it, but knew you weren't ready," remembering how well Chris could read her.

"I know that's why I finally decided to do it; I wanted to show him I wasn't afraid anymore because he helped me," gloating.

"He would have loved that, he never stopped telling us how much he loved you, and how you made him the happiest guy in the world. When he picked out that ring he was so ecstatic, he couldn't wait to put it on your finger. From the moment he had seen it, he knew it was the ring for you."

Playing with it, "It meant a lot to me, the night he gave it to me still plays all the time in my head. It was the happiest moment in my life, and as long as I live I will never forget everything about it."

"I always envied you two, you were so great together, and I wanted a relationship like that."

"You're so sweet," she smiled.

"I know," he joked. "Well I better get going; I'll talk to you later."

"Bye." She put down her phone, and laid down on the couch, with a picture of Chris. She traced over every inch of Chris's face in the picture with her finger, remembering every bump, every scar on it.


	16. Is She Really Right?

The next week Kelsie worked on her movie for Chris's family. She really wanted it to be perfect, something to help them remember the great things about him. Craig helped her with the editing, since she didn't really know how to do it.

She tried to help him open up, but he just kept on changing the subject or any thing else to get out of doing it. He was really being stubborn about the whole thing. He loved her and all, but he was scared that she would just leave him like the rest. She wasn't his, so what's to say that he would even have his chance.

Craig walked through the front door of his house with a frown on his face, only to find Emma sitting on his couch, watching the TV. There was no one else in site. "Emma what are you doing here?"

"Joey asked me to watch Angie while he went grocery shopping. He didn't feel like dragging her along, you know how she gets."

"Where's Angie?"

"She went to get something from her room."

"Oh, okay."

Emma looked at her watch, "You're home a little early."

"I just had a little fight with Kelsie."

"What are you guys going out?" knowing how much Craig like her.

"No, it's too soon for her. Nevertheless, she wants me to open up about something. It's likes she wants to save me or something."

"Do you need to be saved?" knowing that there was still some things that he never talked to her about.

"Not right now, I'm fine with how things are going," he lied, not wanting to admit the Kelsie could read her so well.

"Tell her that then," getting annoyed that Kelsie was trying to push him too much.

"I did, but she doesn't listen. She says she can read me," rolling his eyes.

"Maybe she's right, maybe she can, and you're lying to me," looking into his eyes, hoping to be able to find answers.

"I don't need to be ganged up on. I'm out of here," he said tread heavily towards the stairs. This was the last thing he needed was another person pining to know things that were none of their business.

"Craig," she called out, "I was just trying to help."

Turning spinning around to face her for a second, "That's the problem; I don't want to be helped. I can take care of myself. I've been doing it all my life."

He left the room leaving Emma with a real stunned face. She had never seen Craig acted like that before. She knew now that Kelsie must have been right if he was this defensive.


	17. The Video

Before Kelsie sent off the video to Sechelt, she let her girlfriends, plus Marco watch it, since they wanted to see it. They wanted to see what he life was like before Degrassi. They all sat in her room on her couch, and a couple on the floor.

It began with Kelsie sitting in her room, with a guitar in her arms, talking. "I'm sorry that you had to lose Chris at such a young age. He was my very best friend, my love, and so much more then words could ever tell. He will forever be missed in all of our hearts. I wish I could have only been there to be supportive in your time of loss. Now here's a present from all of us." She began to stroll on her guitar, singing:

_Spend all your time waiting_

_for that second chance_

_for a break that would make it okay_

_there's always one reason_

_to feel not good enough_

_and it's hard at the end of the day_

_I need some distraction_

_oh beautiful release_

_memory seeps from my veins_

_let me be empty_

_and weightless and maybe_

_I'll find some peace tonight_

It's started out showing some early pictures with his boyz, when they were in elementary together. All the times they got themselves into miss jiff. Kelsie sang the song in the background.

_in the arms of an angel_

_fly away from here_

_from this dark cold hotel room_

_and the endlessness that you fear_

_you are pulled from the wreckage_

_of your silent reverie_

_you're in the arms of the angel_

_may you find some comfort there_

_so tired of the straight line_

_and everywhere you turn_

_there's vultures and thieves at your back_

_and the storm keeps on twisting_

_you keep on building the lie_

_that you make up for all that you lack_

_it don't make no difference_

_escaping one last time_

_it's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh_

_this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees_

Next came photo's of all the friends together, some were pictures from school, and other's were little day trips they had taken, or the ones of the parties they would go to. They just showed the many times they had spent together.

It stopped in the middle of the song to show a clip from the play that Chris and she had done together, the performance that had brought them together in the first place.

"Yoo-hoo. Steve it's me!" Rita said waving as she came through the door. (She was being played by Kelsie)

(Chris was playing Steve) Steve straightens his tie, sees hair is in place with hand movement! "Oh, good morning, Rita."

"I was just passing the store and I thought to myself, I'd just pop in and see how dear Stephen is. And dear Katherine of course."

"Well, thanks very much."

"And I did so want to show you this," she unwraps a package. It's an ugly vase of sorts.

He examines it, "What- what is it?"

"Why, Steve it's a pottery vase. A talented, little friend of mine in Greenvale makes them. Isn't it a perfect duck?"

"What do you do with it?"

Rita comes closer to Steve, "You make simply sweet floral arrangements in it. And so many bookstores are widening their spheres these days. I thought it would be the perfectly splendid if you put in a line of these. There's no telling what sort of customers they'd attract.

"No, there isn't is there? Look, Rita, I'm sorry, and I know you're trying to be helpful, but this is a bookstore..."

(Played by Alex) Kathy comes back holding manuscript. "Oh Steve, I've read the chapter, and I honestly don't think- oh- oh, the itch is in again," she said glaring at Rita. "Good morning Rita."

_in the arms of an angel_

_fly away from here_

_from this dark cold hotel room_

_and the endlessness that you fear_

_you are pulled from the wreckage_

_of your silent reverie_

_you're in the arms of the angel_

_may you find some comfort there_

_you're in the arms of the angel_

_may you find some comfort here_

It then went back to the song and more photos from their days in school, especially in their drama class. The many crazy, times that they just goofed around with their roles.

Soon Kelsie began to sing her song that she wrote for him while photos of Chris and her were shown, from their first date, to their first dance together. They were all there. The boys had even snuck in a few photos of their stolen kisses.

Another video clip appeared of them walking away from their friends, onto the beach, holding hands, and at first, the camera didn't follow them. It soon turned to show Chris with his arms around Kelsie's waist.

"Kelsie these last few months have been nice. And I can hardly believe that I have found such an Angel," Chris said, playing with her long hair.

You could see the tears run down her eyes Chris brushed them away. "You have made all my dreams come true!"

"Who would have thought last year that we would have been friends, let alone going out."

"I wouldn't have, but I have to say I always had a thing for you since the first day I laid my eyes on you," glazing into her eyes, with love.

Those words made Chris cry now, that just made Kelsie smile to see how real his feelings really were. "I've been feeling this for a long while, but wasn't sure you were ready to hear it. Kelsie Fitzgerald, I'm madly, deeply in love with you."

"I truly love you too," at those words, Chris cupped her chin with his hands, and kissed Kelsie gently on her lips. Kelsie soon ended the kiss guiding Chris down the beach.

It went back to photo's of them hanging around the Mewhort household, just having fun around there. The last photo that was shown was the picture of the day Kelsie went home for the last time. She was standing in font of Chris, he holding out her hand, showing off the ring he had bought her. They both looked so happy there; who would have thought it would be the last photo.

It went back to Kelsie in her room, "I want you to know that your son was the most caring person in the world. He helped me when I was in trouble, and had no one else to turn to. He was my solemate, and never in the years that I live will I forget Chris. I loved him with all I had. You guys will always be family in my heart."

When the video was over there wasn't a single dry eye in the room. They were moved by how my heart had gone into it. This really showed the kind of life she had in Sechelt.

"Kels, that was great. I really like that you sang on it too, especially his song. I bet his family is really going to be touch by this," Marco said looking right behind him where Kelsie was seated on the couch.

"Thanks, doing this made me feel closer to him again," she said looking down at her lap.

"Just remember he will always be with you even if he isn't alive anymore," Paige said smiling at her.

"Yeah, I know."

Song by Sarah McLachlan


	18. Practice

It was Boxing Day, and Kelsie decided that she should phone Mrs. Mewhort, before band practice. She dialed her number; she still knew it off by heart. It took three rings before someone answered the phone. Kelsie sat at her desk tapping her fingernails on it.

"Hello," Mrs. Mewhort answered.

"Hey Mrs. Mewhort…it's Kelsie."

"Hello dear, thank you for the video you sent. It was very thoughtful," smiling slightly.

"Your welcome, the second song I sing on it was actually a song I had written for him a while back."

"He told me about it. He thought it was very sweet of you to do something so thoughtful. He always boasted to me about your talent."

"He did?" wondering whom else he told about her talent.

"Yeah."

"Well he would actually be happy to know that I'm playing in a band now," wanting her to know she was doing something her son would have wanted her to do.

"Since when?"

"Probably a month after he died. He always told me to do it, but I didn't believe I was good enough. I thought that this would be a great gift to him. We actually have a gig for New Year's at a friend's house."

"That's great. I know Chris is cheering you on from heaven."

"Thanks. So how are you and your family doing?"

"We're better; we can actually go by his room with it open now. After the New Year, we're going to start to clear his stuff out of there, and give it to needy. That's what he would have wanted."

"Yeah it is," knowing how generous he had been.

"Even though he's no longer around don't think you can't come by when you're in town. Or if you need anyone to talk to, anytime, just call. We'll be here for you."

"I will," she looked at the clock on her desk, "Well I have to go to practice. I will phone you later when I have more time to talk," feeling a little bad that she could talk to her more.

"Alright dear, bye."

"Bye."

Kelsie strolled on her guitar, as she sang. She suddenly stopped in the middle of the song. Everyone looked so tired, "Craig I think we've had enough practice for today."

"No we're still having a problem with the chord change on the last song. We're performing in a few days, and we still have a lot of work to do."

"Yeah, but we're been practicing for hours. I've missed most of the shopping time."

"Is that all you think about?"

"No. I'm out of here."

"You can't do this, this is real important."

"Watch me," she replied as she gathered up her stuff.

"Fine?" he said with a little anger, lifting up his arms in surrender.

"Well if she's going, I'm leaving too," Spinner said.

"Me too!" Jimmy said standing up. "We can meet up with Paige and Ash.

"What, you guys are going to leave me here, alone?"

"Well you could come with us," Kelsie suggested.

"No, I have other things to do before Paige's New Years party," he sat back down on the couch.

"Okay, your loss," Kelsie said as she left Craig alone in the garage.

They all walked at to the driveway to their cars, "Why don't we just take my car, that way we only have to find one parking spot," Kelsie said.

"Sounds good to me," Jimmy said.

"I'll phone Paige, and tell her to meet us somewhere," Kelsie pulled out her cell phone from her purse and dialed her cell number.

"Hello," Paige said, putting her hand over her ear so she could hear better.

"Hey, it's Kelsie. The guys and I were wondering if you would like to meet us somewhere in the mall."

"Sure, how about the Pita Pit?"

"Alright, see you then."

"Okay."

It took a while to get through the mall to the food court since the mall was jammed pack with shoppers. After forcing their way through the last set of people, they finally made it.

"Hey you guys, how was practice?" Ashley asked before going over to Jimmy for a kiss.

"Good, everything is basically set," Spinner said.

"Well that's good because I want everything perfect for my party," Paige said putting her arm around Spinner's waist.

The smile that had been on Kelsie's face when they arrived was now replaced by a frown. Seeing her friends with their significant, others made her miss Chris. These last days had started to seem like everything was getting better, but after this it seemed like the hurt was never going to heal, that it would always feel this bad.

Kelsie looks at Marco, who looks just as sad, "Well I don't know about you, but Marco and I are going to try to find some good bargains. See you guys later."

Kelsie started to pull Marco away, "Alright, see you later," Ash said.

With that, Marco and Kelsie took off towards Stitches, leaving the lovebirds behind in the food court.


	19. New Year's Party

It was New Year's Eve and the band was playing in Paige's living room. Kelsie was in a black strapless dress that had pink flowers on it, the material was sheer. Her hair was in tight curls; two diamond clips held her hair away from her face, while a few stands dangled in her eyes.

Craig sat on the stool in deep blue jeans, and a medium green dress shirt. He even had gotten his haircut shorter, leaving no curls left except at the back where it curled just slightly. He wanted to look good for their show, but especially for Kelsie. "Folks we're going to take a quick break, enjoy the party!"

They all grabbed their water bottles and took a sip of it; their throats were a little dry. Emma came over to Kelsie, with a big smile on her face, "You're looking good tonight."

"Thanks, I thought since it was my first performance that I should dress up a little! Are you enjoying yourself?" wondering if she was here with her crush.

"Yeah, I finally got Jay to ask me out," she smiled.

"That's great!"

"Doesn't he look good tonight?" she boasted pointing over towards the stairs. He had his hair slicked back, and was wearing all black, but for some reason it really suited him.

"Yeah," she replied, as her tone of her voice changed. She remembered always boasting about Chris to everyone. Always wanting everyone to know how much she loved him. She would never have that again, that made her sad.

Craig whistled to get the bands attention, and asked them to come over so they could talk. They stood in a circle, "We're going to sing that new song that we practice last night."

"Craig how can we, when I wasn't there last night?" Kelsie asked confused.

"You can either try to follow with us, or you can stand this one out," Craig suggested.

"I think that I'll sit it out. I don't want to ruin the song," thinking how much of a disaster that would be.

"Okay," he was somewhat happy; she could really listen to these words. Craig goes back to the microphone, while Kelsie goes into the crowd. "We're back; this is one of our new songs."

_Don't, You don't have to save my life  
No, You're not ready I can feel it   
Outside it's raining, but I'll just go home  
Someday your heart will let him go._

As soon as you get that feeling  
You can start to live again  
As soon as the worst is over  
You can make it all make sense  
Right now I can't give you what you need   
As soon as you get the feeling...  
Run To Me.

Hush, You don't have to say a word.  
Trust, I'm not going to hate you for it.  
Feels like my touch only brings back the pain  
Someday those memories will fade away

As soon as you get that feeling   
You can start to live again  
As soon as the worst is over  
You can make it all make sense  
Right Now, I can't give you what you need  
As soon as you get that feeling...  
Run To Me. 

_How can I be brave enough, to say good-bye_

_I die inside without you, Oh_

_It's hard enough to walk away_

_To look at me and make me wrong _

_Been through this way to make me strong  
_

_As soon as you get that feeling  
You can start to live again  
As soon as the worst is over  
You can make it all make sense  
Right Now, I can't give you what you need  
As soon as you get that feeling...  
Run To Me. _

_As soon as you get that feeling..._

_As soon as you get that feeling..._

_Run To Me_

Kelsie listened to those words, and realized that she had been trying to save him. Lately she had been trying to get him to open his heart, to stop keeping the hurt that he felt inside, the hurt that was eating him away. He may not realize it, but it was, slowly but surely doing that. He put on this front in front of people, but she saw the real hurt in his eyes.

She wanted to do something to help herself move on, even though she never wanted to let Chris go from her heart. Helping Craig with the hurt was a thank you for helping the real Kelsie break out of the jail she was stuck in. She couldn't believe that he had written another song about what was going on between them.

As Craig finished the song, he glanced over at Kelsie with a giant smile. However, she was looking at her hand, at that ring on her finger; the song was right on she wasn't ready to let him go. Was he wasting his time waiting for her, waiting for something that may never happen? Was it only going to lead to heartache?

Kelsie rejoined the band, and they played a few more songs before it was time for the count down to New Years. At that point, everyone went to find their dates and started counting down the time, all looking so happy.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!" they all shouted, before giving a kiss to their dates. Kelsie stood there by herself with her arms around herself watching everyone else; it brought tears to her eyes. Instead of going outside for air, she walked over to Craig instead.

"Happy New Years Craig."

"Happy New Years Kelsie," he said giving her a hug, never wanting to let her go. "Do you want to sing your song now?"

She was a little hesitated at first because what that song meant to her, but then decided why not, "Sure," walking to the piano. "Everyone lets start out the New Year right. I'm going to sing a song that so dear to my heart called 'Pieces of Me'."

As she sang this song, it brought tears to her eyes. She closed her eyes just listening to her words flow through her body; she was so full of emotion. Everyone in the house could feel the emotion that flowed through that song.

It wasn't until 3am that the last set of people finally left Paige's house, only her close friends were left. They were spread all around the house, while Paige made out with Spinner.

Kelsie decided that it was time for her to leave, she felt uneasy being around all these couples. She still wasn't able to watch everyone be so happy with their boyfriend, or girlfriend, it made her long for Chris's kisses. Her last days with him would play through her head. It had been a month, and still it felt like yesterday to her. Nothing she did made it easier. She thought by now she could at least be around couples. She made her way down the paved path when she remembered that she didn't bring her car. She walked back up the path and went back into the house into the kitchen, to find Paige sitting on the counter, as Spinner leaned against the counter, standing, making out with her.

"What are you doing back, I though you were leaving?" Paige asked as she stopped making out with Spinner.

"I forgot I didn't bring my car, so I think I'm going to call for a cab," going to grab the phone.

From behind her, "No you're not. I'll give you a ride," Craig said wanting to make sure that she got home all right.

"There's no need."

"No buts! I'm not giving you the choice in the matter."

"Alright, alright," she surrendered.

"Let me get my guitar, then we'll be off," he said as he headed towards the living room, grabbing his guitar. Then he came back within seconds. "So did you enjoy yourself tonight?"

"I had a few low moments, but otherwise I had a great time."

"That's good, because I want things to get better for you," he said glazing into her eyes with sympathy.

"How about you?"

"I loved the thrill of playing in front of a crowd. I get a rush out of it!" he said with so much zeal.

They walked to Craig's car, which was a few house down. By that time Kelsie was shivering a little; she was in strappy shoes so it didn't help from making her cold. Craig put their stuff into the trunk, and then they got into the car. They sat there for a little bit as the car warmed up.

"I'm almost sorry that we have to go home, I'm not really tired," Craig implied.

"Neither am I, I've had too many things on my mind to be tired."

"Then what would you like to do?" he looked over to her.

"How about coffee at Tim Horton's, something to warm me up."

"Alright, sound good to me. It is a pretty cold night. I can't believe that you wore that with the weather like this," he exclaimed as he pulled from the curb.

"Well I had to look good and all," she said like a smart ass.


	20. The Moment

Craig and Kelsie sat in her living room on a Saturday in February. They were waiting for their friends to arrive. They were coming over to help Kelsie move her music supplies into the spare room, and to decorate.

Kelsie was happy that her parents had agreed to let her have one of the spare rooms for a little music room. Her room had been a little crowded with all the stuff she owned.

"So what kind of things do you want done to it? Craig asked.

"I want all decorations to be of anything to do about music. Like a couple of those photo's of our band that Ellie took, other bands, stuff like that."

"It's going to look great!" he exclaimed.

Just then the phone rung, "Hello," Kellie answered.

"Hey, I'm sorry but I can't make it. It looks like the spirit squad is short a few hundred dollars to get out new uniforms, so we're sitting down now trying to figure out a way to raise money," Paige said.

"I understand."

"Okay talk to you later."

"Bye," she said pressing end on her phone. "There goes another person."

"Why don't we just start now, we'll get a lot more done if we don't sit around waiting for them. What if we end up finding out none of them is going to show at all?"

Getting up off the couch," I guess you're right! I still can't believe everyone bailed, at least you kept your promise," she smiled.

Of course would, if that meant I got to spend time with you, he thought.

They began by grabbing her piano from her room, and placing it in the corner by the window. Craig then grabbed her guitar and put it in the opposite corner on its stand. Next, they brought in her stereo, putting it on its stand by the closet door. As they hooked up her speakers, "Why don't we hang these up around your room, so you can hear it from every angle," Craig suggested.

"I never thought of doing that before."

"Could you get me some nails and a hammer?"

"Sure," she ran down the stairs to the garage, to her dad's workbench.

Kelsie looked at her watch, it was noon now, and she was starting to feel a little hungry. "Craig, do you want to take a break, and have something to eat?"

"Sure," he said putting down the hammer.

Kelsie jumped on his back, wrapping her legs around his waist, putting her arms around his neck. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"There's too many stairs and I've been up and down them so many times, I don't want to do it again, please!!!" she begged.

"Alright, but I'm not bringing you back up."

"Thank you," she said squeezing him tightly.

When they got into the kitchen, she jumped off his back. "So what would you like for lunch?"

"How about a sandwich?"

"Alright, do you like ham?"

"Yeah."

Kelsie went into her fried and grabbed all the supplies that she needed for the sandwich, "Would you like something to drink?

"What do you got?"

"Orange juice, sprite, coke, water."

"Sprite."

She throws the can towards him, and then she went make them some lunch.

When they had hung up all the pictures, they looked around the room at what they had done. "Something's missing!" Craig exclaimed.

"I know, but I can't figure out what."

They both stood there thinking about it, then Craig had it, "It's missing music notes on the wall, since this room is going to be filled with wonderful music."

"Well, why don't we go see if we got any paint in the garage, other wise we need to go to the store and pick it up?"

They walked into the garage over to her dad's shelf. It was full of different little cans. They had to look at many different cans to find paint, but they finally did. "Do you think this blue will look good on the lime green?" Kelsie asked.

"Yeah, this room is totally going to be funky," he laughed.

"A Kelsie, Craig Creation," she added.

"First things first, we need to make sure everything's covered so we don't get paint on anything."

She looked around the garage until she spotted some plastic. Then they went and brought everything upstairs.

"Why don't you start drawing the notes with a pencil, while I go change into something I don't care gets paint on it."

"Alright," he began drawing on the wall, thinking how much fun they have had just organizing this all.

Kelsie came back with her hair in pink tails, a yellow halter-top, and baggie overalls. Craig thought she looked adorable.

"So do you need help with that?" Kelsie asked grabbing the pencil out of his hand.

"Yeah, you could do the wall by the window, while I finished this one."

"Okay."

They started painting on the opposite sides of the room, but they eventually met in the middle. "Hey Craig," she called out.

"What," he turned towards her.

All of a sudden, a paintbrush came flying at his face, hitting his cheek. She began to giggle as his jaw dropped. He couldn't believe she had just done that.

"Oh you think that's funny," he laughed.

"Yeah."

Drawing closer to her, "Than I think you'll enjoy this."

"Oh is that right," she joked.

"Yeah," he went to hit her with the paint, but she ducked. "Don't think I won't get you."

"Oh is that so!" being all cocky.

"Don't underestimate me," he grew closer to her again, but she started backing away, eventually backing right into a wall.

"No, no, no," she cried.

"You're not getting away with it."

She tried pushing him away, but he grabbed her wrists with one hand, she tried to get away by squirming, but he dropped his paintbrush, and grabbed one of her wrists with his other hand.

"What are you going to do to me now?"

"Tickle you," he said as he went for sides making her cry with laughter. Then she decided that it was his time to endure the torturer. And she was right he defiantly was ticklish. They were laughing so hard, then they looked into each other's eyes, it was one of those moments.

Craig could see the want in her eyes. He brushed her cheek with the back of his hands, never taking his eyes off her. When she didn't stop him, he leaned in and softly brushed his lips across hers. The intensity in the kiss began to rise; she lifted her arms up, putting them around his neck while he put his around her waist.

Jimmy and Spinner pulled up to Kelsie's house. They knew they were late, but it was better late than never. They came and rang the doorbell waiting a few moments, and no one answered.

"Dude where is she, she couldn't be gone because both Craig and her cars are here," Spin said.

"Maybe they didn't hear us, let's try the door maybe it's unlocked," so he turned the doorknob, and it was.

They came through the hallway, to the stairs, climbing them until they got to the third floor. They turned left at the top and went until they got to the room at the end of the hall. They didn't hear anyone, but the door was slightly open.

Kelsie tugged on Craig's upper lip slightly with her lips, "Mmm," he moaned.

Spinner and Jimmy were stunned at what they saw, but not surprised by it. They started to laugh.

At the sound of someone in the room, Craig and Kelsie pulled apart from each other quickly, to find them standing there. Craig wiped his lips off with his sleeve.

"Dude you didn't have to stop on our behalf," Spinner exclaimed.

"I didn't think you guys were coming," Craig said.

"Well things changed," Jimmy said. "You need any help?"

"No, we're actually finished. It took a long while, but we're finally done," she said taking off all the plastic from the furniture and floor. "So what are you guys up to?"

"Nothing," Jimmy replied.

"Why don't we grab a couple of people and go see 'The Forgotten'?"

"Sounds good to me," Spinner said.

"Well just let me go get changed and then we can be off," she said as she stood at the door.

When she was out of site, "Dude, how did that kiss happen? We want details," Spinner said.

"Well I don't know, she started flirting with me as we were working, it just kind of happened," he said blushing.

"I bet you're happy that it finally happened," Jimmy said.

"Yeah, but I'm not totally sure where it leaves us. I guess we'll have to talk about it when we're alone."

"Good luck, buddy!" Spin said, patting him on the back.

Right then Kelsie walked back in the room, wearing light green sweater, pink mini skirt, and pink suede boots. Craig thought she look very hot, he couldn't keep his eyes off her. "Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yeah, we'll have to drop by my place so I can change," Craig replied.

As they all sat in the back row, Kelsie kept looking at Craig, trying not to make it too obvious to everyone else. She looked back to the screen to see a vehicle out of nowhere crashed into the side of the car, making a loud crashing sound. It scared the heck out of Kelsie making her jump.

Craig saw this and put his arm around her. She soon was snuggled in his arms, with her head resting on his shoulder, and one of her hands resting on his inner thigh.

After that anytime she was scared during the movie, he would squeeze his grip around her. Their friends were watching this from the corner of their eyes. Thinking they looked so cute together. Someone who didn't know them, who was looking over at them would have thought they been going out for a long time.

After the lights went up, they acted as if nothing happened between them. Everyone thought that it was weird.


	21. The Talk

Craig drove Kelsie home after the movie. They didn't talk all the way there, they just sat in silence. When they arrived, Kelsie got out, but before shutting the door. "Why don't you come in, we should talk about that kiss."

"Alright," he said shutting off his engine, and locking the doors.

As they got to the porch, they could see there were no light on, "Doesn't look like your parents are home."

"Their not, they're out of town," sounding annoyed.

"They seem to go out of town a lot," thinking that he had only met her mom once and yet to see her dad.

"Yeah, but I'm use to it. That's why Chris spent a lot of nights at my house," she said as she unlocked the door.

Craig could see the sadness she tried to hide in her eyes. Why hadn't she told him this before? "Well they shouldn't abandon you all the time."

"It's really not a big deal. It's their job." They sat in the living room; Kelsie decided it was a little chilly, so she turned on the gas fire.

"I don't really know how to start this conversation," Craig exclaimed as he sat on the floor next to her.

"Neither do I," feeling a little awkward.

"Kels you know I've liked you for a long time," he didn't want to say love because it wasn't the right time for that. "Today was the first time I've felt like you were truly ready."

"I was, and I want something to come out of this," she had being thinking about him a lot lately as something more.

He was overjoyed to hear that. It was like music to his ears.

"But I don't want it to be a big thing with everyone right now, you know how Paige is," Kelsie said rolling her eyes.

"Then why don't we keep it a secret, like it's some kind of an affair."

"I like the way you think!" putting her hand on his knee.

"Why thank you," he said pulling her closer to him.

"You're too much!"

Craig just sat there holding her, watching the fire. She looked a little distant, he knew her parents not being here was really bothering her, but he wanted her to tell him. "Kelsie talk to me, what's bothering you?"

"Nothing," she wined.

"Don't do this to me, I know there is."

She hated that he knew her so well, like Chris use to, "They always have to go out of town to these other clients. What was the point of taking a job in Toronto when half the time they're not even here? That's why I started putting my heart and soul in something because then I wouldn't have to think about how lonely I felt."

"Kels why don't you tell them how you feel?"

"I have, but they don't really get it. That's why when they said I could visit Chris whenever I wanted, so I chose my birthday. I wanted to spend that day with someone who truly cared for me."

Craig held her in her arms as tears fell onto his shirt, "You know I'll be here for you day or night, you don't have to feel this way."

"I sometimes cry myself to sleep when they're gone because I hate being in this big house by myself. It's so quiet; I sometimes even turn up the music so that I won't have to listen to the silence."

Craig kissed her on her forehead, "Yeah, well I know how you feel."

"How?"

"The reason I really don't let people in is because I'm afraid of them leaving me."

"Why?" wondering what could cause him to feel that way.

"When I was younger my mother left my dad, and ended up marrying Joey. I was left with my dad, who constantly beat me. I never felt so alone."

Putting her hand on his chest, "Hun you could have told me."

"I didn't know how to, but there's still more. My mom eventually died, so I lost touch where my sister was, and I was left to live with my father who scared me. He eventually stopped, but then I began to search for my sister with the help of Emma. When I found her I started to see her again, but my dad didn't like that he hated my sister and Joey because it reminded him that my mom left him. He totally trashed my dark room, and started hitting me again. Joey decided that it would be best if I were not to come around anymore. I thought about taking Angie to British Columbia with me," he said as she stroked the back of his neck. "One day I was with Sean I decided to play chicken with the train, I really wanted to die because living with my dad was killing me inside, but something stop me. I went to see my mom's grave instead, and just cried, wishing that she hadn't left me. Joey then offered to take me in, almost a year later my dad died in a car crash."

"I can see why you had a hard time opening up to me. You have been through so much pain, and heartache," more than anyone your age should.

She kissed him on lips, "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Why giving my secret boyfriend a kiss; making him forget about his troubles."

"Oh really," he said before she started kissing his again.

They were here alone; nobody would interrupt them this time. Kelsie had her hand on the back of Craig's neck, rubbing it gently as they made out against her couch on the floor. He began rubbing his hand up and down her outer thigh.

They didn't stop until around midnight, when Craig noticed the time. He would have to be home soon, even though he didn't want to have to leave her all alone. He stopped the kiss, "I don't want to stop, but I have to get home before curfew."

"Alright," she said as Craig pulled her up off the floor.

"Are you going to be alright, because if you don't want to be alone. I could call Joey and tell him I'm staying at one of the boys' house."

"Would you?" she said looking in his eyes. That was like an answer to her prayers. She again had someone to watch over her, as Chris had.

"Yeah."

"Thank you," she said kissing him on the lips.

They walked back into the living room, Kelsie sat on the couch while Craig went to use the phone. He came back after a few minutes, and sat on the couch too. He prompts his legs up, and Kelsie decided to move in between them, as she rested her head on his chest. Craig grabbed her hand, and intertwined his fingers with hers, as he rested his chin on her head.

"Thanks again, it's nice not to be alone."

"I would do anything for you," he said kissing her on the top of her head.

They soon fell asleep watching the fire, enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms, the feeling that they had someone that totally got how each other felt.


	22. Are They?

Kelsie walked through the school doors, Paige rushed right to her side, "So tell me about you and Craig," she said with great excitement.

"What about us?" knowing exactly what she meant, she turned her head so that Paige wouldn't see her glowing.

"How did you guys hook up?" she asked a little eager to find out the details.

Kelsie looked at her with confusion so that Paige wouldn't suspect that she was lying, "We're not together."

"But Spin said you guys were making out at your house this weekend, and then were pretty cozy at the movies," baffled by the situation.

"We were just having a little fun. I hadn't kissed anyone for a while so I just felt like kissing him," she laughed.

"Okay," looking at her like she was crazy.

"Oh come on, tell me that you haven't made out with someone for fun."

"To be honest...no."

"Well I have, Craig is like a brother to me. I can't see us being more than just friends," she lied as she saw Craig over Paige's shoulder smiling at her.; she smiled back, winking at him.

"He's going to be so disappointed since he is totally in love with you."

"He is not!!!"

"He is too, come on, who else would write you two songs, and do all these special things for you like inviting you into their band, when they wouldn't let any other girl in before."

"Well I guess that's his problem, because I have my eye on someone else."

"Who?"

Leaning against a locker, "Blake, Chris's best friend."

"You're going to have another long distant relationship," stunned to hear that.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, "Yeah, well we were always good friends when I lived there. We talk to each other on msn all the time, if it wasn't for him I don't think I could even move on."

"So when are you going to see him?"

"He's going on a road trip with the boys for spring break, so probably Easter weekend."

"Good luck then, I hope you find happiness again," she said giving her a hug.

"I have to head to the library to get a book for class, so see you later."

Kelsie walked off, when she had someone pull her into the music room; putting their hand over her mouth so, she wouldn't scream. He didn't need to have any attention on them. She turned around to see the face, "Oh Craig!" pulling him into her arms.

"Hey, so did Paige buy it?" caressing her cheek.

"Yeah, like a charm," she said leaning in for a gentle kiss. "So how was your day with your sister yesterday?"

"Good, she really loves the zoo. Her favorite thing is to see is the monkeys."

"I love to see how much you love your sister. I can tell you'll make a great father someday."

"Well as long as the babies are with you," he joked.

She punched him lightly in his arm, "Let's not think that far."

"Well I believe we will be together forever," he said leaning in for a kiss. He leaned her up against the wall, leaning one of his arms up against the wall as he had the other one in her butt, while she had her hands in his hair. They were interrupted by the morning bell.

"I guess we have to go, you leave first, and then I leave a little after you," Kelsie said.

"Okay but not before one last kiss," he whispered in her ear.

"I can't argue with that," she leaned in, biting his lower lip lightly.


	23. Do You Wanna Go Out?

A month into their secret affair they were sitting in the garage alone, they had told their friends that they were busy, so that no one would bother them. Kelsie sat on the couch up with her feet up on the arm, listening to Craig sing the first song he wrote her.

He stopped with guitar still in his arms, as he was looking into Kelsie's eyes, smiling. Kelsie's eyes sparkled back at him.

"I love that song," kissing his hands, gently biting his index finger.

"I'm glad, so when do your parents get home?" brushing her hair with his fingers.

"They just phoned this afternoon, saying that they have to head to Calgary for a couple of days more. They'll be home by Thursday."

"How are you feeling about this?" putting his arm around her shoulders.

"At this point I don't care; I'm so tired of fighting with them about it every time I see them. I'm tired of having to take care of everything here, when it's not my job," wanting to scream out so bad, but she restrained herself.

"Why don't you let me help you with that?" hating to see what this was doing to her. He wanted so bad to go over there and tell her parents what he thought of them.

"It's not you job," not wanting him to get involved.

"But I want to help," he pleaded, rubbing her leg.

"Okay," she got up, and sat on Craig's lap, facing him. Starting to kiss him, while he rubbed her back as they kissed, she put her hands under his legs.

They heard the handle giggling, and were startled; Kelsie quickly jumped off his lap and sat in another chair, as the door opened.

Jimmy looked at both their faces, to see that they weren't even keeping eye contact with each other. He knew something was up, but what? "What are you guys up to?"

"Oh we were just fooling around, playing some music," Kelsie said as she blushed.

"What are you doing here?" Craig asked.

"Oh Ash was doing something with her father tonight, so I had nothing else to do," he said sitting down on an empty chair.

As the Months went by it became harder to hide their relationship, they had many close calls. It only made it the affair even more exciting, knowing that any moment they could be found out.

It was May, Kelsie walked into homeroom, Spinner waved at her with a great big smile on his face. He looked a little happier then usually to see her.

"Hey sexy, how are you today?" Spinner asked brushing her shoulder with the back of his hand making her feel a little unconformable, knowing that she had a boyfriend.

She wanted to tell him not to do that that she had a boyfriend, but she couldn't. "Fine, how about you?"

"Well I could be better if…" he stopped, wanting to sweep her off somewhere.

"If what?" wondering what he wanted. Hoping that she was wrong about what he was just about to ask.

"If you would go out with me tonight," grinning at her, hoping that she would take up his offer.

Kelsie was speechless she didn't expect this. How would she let him down with out giving her away that she had a secret boyfriend? She smiled, "I wish I could, but already have plans with a friend from my Biology class…sorry…maybe another night."

"Alright, I'm going to hold you to that," he would defiantly make sure about that. He wanted her to be his; she wasn't like any other girl at Degrassi. She was different, seemed more mature.

"Bye," she waved as she walked up the stairs. As she got around the corner she laughs, she couldn't believe what had just happened.

Craig was in the band room, strumming on his guitar when Paige strolled through the doors. She was strutting her stuff, making sure she was noticed. She had a short pleaded jean skirt, with a white skirt, "Hey there."

Craig looked at her, but then went right back to his guitar. It didn't really faze him, to him no one compared to Kelsie.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, giving him big smile. "What are you up to?"

"What does it look like?"

"Oh yeah, stupid me," she laughed slightly. "Well I was thinking since now that Spinner and I are through, that tonight you and I could get together," grabbing the collar of his shirt.

"I don't think so," removing her hands, looking a little bit uncomfortable about the situation.

"Why not we're both free?" knowing that she would eventually break him. Any guy would die to have a piece of her, but she was choosing him.

"Because I've got plans," annoyed that she couldn't take no as an answer.

"Why don't you skip it," resting her hands on his inner thighs, coming closer to his ear, whispering, "We could have a little fun, if you know what I mean. Here's a preview."

Paige jumped up on his lap, and began kissing him rough, tugging his upper lip. He stopped it almost as soon as it started, placing her back on the ground. "Don't you get the meaning of NO?"

"Oh come on your plans can't be better than that?" thinking pretty highly of herself.

"I'm not going to date my friend's ex, only a couple of weeks after their break-up," knowing that wasn't the real reason, but he couldn't tell her that.

"Fine, it's your loss," she said tossing her hair back as she walked out of the room.

Craig arrived at Kelsie's house with a single red rose behind his back. He waited at the door, until she answered. As the dark opened, his smile became larger.

"Hey," she said pulling him in the house by his free hand.

"I had quite the interesting afternoon today," Craig said as he walked through the living room.

"You too!" remembering her encounter with Spinner today.

"Paige came onto me, and even told me that she wanted to sleep with me."

Kelsie couldn't believe her ears, but she couldn't really blame her when she didn't know he was taken. "Well Spinner asked me out, and was being all flirty with me. I've never seen him act this way with me before. We're going to have to tell them soon before little Miss Paige tries a little bit more on you."

"I know but it's been so much FUN," kissing her on the nose before handing her the rose.

"I've decided something," she said sitting down on the couch.

"What would that be?" sitting next to her.

"I've decided that it was time to finally take this ring off," taking it off her finger, and placing it on the side table.

"You know you don't have to do that for me. I know that it means a lot to you."

"It still does, but I think it's time. I'm totally committed to you, so I didn't think it was right for me to wear it on my hand any longer. I will always love him, but he no longer holds all of my heart anymore."

"You truly amaze me," he smiled.

"How about you say we go make dinner now?"

"Sounds good to me, I'm starved! What are we having?"

"Grilled chicken on the BBQ, with corn on the cob."

"Yummy," grabbing her hand as they walked towards the kitchen.

When she got out all their supplies for dinner, "Why don't you start up the BBQ, while I make my special BBQ sauce."

"Okay, but I'll need a lighter."

"There's one in the drawer by the stove."

After Kelsie was finished in the kitchen, she brought the food out to Craig, so he could cook it. She then went back into the kitchen to get the plates and silverware to set the table that was on the deck.

Kelsie came behind Craig putting her arms around his waist, and kissed his shoulder, before leaning her chin on it. "I can't believe it's been 3months already, and we actually pulled it off."

"I know," putting his hands on top of hers.

Coming up with a great idea, "I say we tell them at the last dance, by showing up in each others arms."

Craig turns around to face her, "You know I've been thinking lately about how you make me feel. I know what I feel about you I've never felt with anyone else. I was able to show all of myself to you, to open up. In past relationships you know I've was never able to do that. It's a feeling I've been having since last fall before your birthday. I'm telling you today that I can truly say to you that I love with you with all I have."

Tears trickled down her cheeks, she was overjoyed by his words, "Craig, I know that I'm falling head over heals in love with you. And I'm glad that I was able to find another love. When I look into your eyes I know everything will be alright, you make me forget all my worries the way no one has before."

Craig put his finger on Kelsie's lip to stop her from talking anymore, so he could kiss her. She allowed him more access to her mouth. She stopped the kiss for a second; making Craig think, something was wrong. She jumped up on the railing to sit on. She grabbed Craig's hands, bringing him closer to her again. He then leaned back in the kiss her nice soft lips; Kelsie guided his lips to nape of her neck, as he put his hands on her butt so she wouldn't fall backwards.

Spinner and Paige both arrived at Kelsie's house at the same time, getting out of their different vehicles. Both had a surprised look on their face, when they seen each other. Unsure why the other would be at Kelsie's house right now.

"What are you doing here Spin?" knowing that Kelsie wasn't close friends with him.

"Well I could ask you the same thing," he ranted.

"Well she is my best friend. I wanted to see what she was up to," she lied.

"Well I'm here to see who she was seeing."

"What are you talking about?"

"I asked her out, and she said other plans, so I figured it had to be a date."

"Maybe that Blake guy is in town. She told me a while back that she had a thing for him," she said as they climbed the stairs.

They knocked on the door, but no one came, that's when they heard giggling coming from the backyard. "Let's see what that is," Paige suggested.

"I'm behind you."

They walked towards the backyard, opening the gate. Kelsie and Craig didn't even hear the squeaking of the gate, they were too busy having their own fun.

Paige and Spinner came around the corner, to discover Kelsie making out with someone, who looked familiar but they could figure it out right away.

"Hun you should check on the food before it burns," Kelsie said.

Craig turned around, stunning both Paige and Spinner. Now they come to think of it, it totally made sense. How didn't they figure out sooner? Were they really too caught up in their own lives?

"So what do we have here? Spinner asked, as he walked up the deck stairs with Paige.

"Oh my goodness, you scared me," Kelsie replied. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well I wanted to see what was so special you couldn't break plans for me," Spinner answered.

"And I wanted to talk to you about how to get Craig, but I can see now that's out of the question."

"Well I guess you guys found us out," Craig said.

"How long have you been going out?" Paige asked.

"Since the day Spin and Jimmy found us kissing."

"I thought you thought of him as only a brother," putting her hands on her hip.

"Well I had to give some reason why I wouldn't date him, and that was the first to come to mind. See I wanted to have something in my life that people wouldn't make a big deal about. I'm sorry I lied to you," giving her a hug. She hoped that Paige wasn't mad.

"I understand, you do deserve to be happy," she smiled, knowing how much she had been through this last year.

"Dude, I guess you finally got what you've been wishing for," patting him on the back, as Craig took the food off the grill.

"Yes, and she makes me the happiest man in the world, words can't even describe the feeling, "he said as he watched her talk away with Paige in the corner.

"Sweetie, our foods ready," he called out.

"Alright."

"I guess we'll leave you by yourselves," Paige said grabbing Spinner by the arm as if he was a child, just as she had done when they went out.

"Bye," they both said as they headed down the path.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" Craig asked as they sat down outside to eat.

"Well we could take a dip in the pool. This spring seems to be a hot one…" raising her eyebrow.

You could say that again he thought, not that he was complaining, because that meant she was in much less clothes, not that she didn't look good anything she wore, it's just he loved it when she showed off her great long legs.

"…If this is an indication what summer's going to be like than we're in trouble."

"Well it can have it's advantages," he sad raising a brow.

Kelsie rolled her eyes, "You are so bad," lightly slapping him on the arm.

"You know it."

Later on by the pool, Kelsie came walking down the path, doing a little fashion show, showing off her little blue flower bikini. After she was finished, Craig picked her up and jumped in the pool with her in his arms.

She tore out of his arms, and began to splash him in the face to get him back.

"You're going to regret that," Craig hollered.

"Oh am I," starring at him over her shoulder.

"Yeah," he dived deeper into the water. Kelsie couldn't see where he had gone, all of a sudden, he came up underneath her, and she ended up on his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked.

Craig then flung her into the water, making her go flying. He started to giggle.

"Oh you think that's funny."

"Yeah," she started to move farther away from him. He decided to swim after her.

"You can try to catch me all you want, but you won't be able to," he then actually caught up with her.

"You were saying," he bragged.

"Okay," she turned around allowing him to kiss her. She allowed this for a little bit, but then she pushed him away, climbing out of the pool before running for the house. Craig wasn't too far behind her.

As she approached the house, Craig almost caught her, but the door slammed in his face. He quickly opened it, running after her into the living room. He ended up tackling her onto the couch, tickling her. He had her laughing so hard that she felt like she was going to pee her pants.

"Stop, stop, stop," she squealed.

"Do you surrender, no more running."

Putting her hand on her chest, "I promise."

"Good!"

He leaned down, and began to nibble on her ear gently, slowly moving his lips to the middle of her neck. His touch made tingles go down her back. Craig moved his hand down her side as the other one was keeping him steady, her back began to arch. He loved the way her body was reacting to his every touch.

Kelsie touched his jaw, guiding his face back to her lips, and kissed him hard, pulling on his lower lips with her teeth.

"I need you, right now," she moaned.

"Are you sure, you're ready for this step?" Craig asked, not wanting her to do anything she may not be ready for.

"Yes."

He pulled her up off the couch, and he held her hand as they were walked up the stairs to her room, they were both smiling. They stopped a couple of times on the way to share a little kiss.

When they entered her room, they began kissing, slowly walking towards the bed. As they approached the bed, Kelsie pushed Craig on it.

Kelsie woke-up the next morning with her head on Craig's bare chest. She smiled when thinking of last night; it had been filled with magic, a feeling that she couldn't describe. Last night had been the first real night that she wished that she couldn't go back and change the past. She was finally going to let herself truly love another.

Craig woke-up, putting his arms around her, kissing her on the top of her head, "Morning," he smiled.

"Morning, how did you sleep?"

"Wonderful."

"How about we go have some breakfast, than get dress? We have practice in like 3hrs, so we need to be ready."

"Okay."

Kelsie darted out of bed, and down the stairs as Craig chased after her again. Boy he loved this girl he thought. He didn't think that anything could be anymore perfect then this.


	24. Lies Will Be Found Out

Kelsie and Craig walked into school Monday morning, beaming. They had a great weekend together. The first thing the saw was Jimmy and Ashley standing by Mr. Simpson's classroom talking amongst themselves closely.

"Hey," Kelsie said as they passed them, waiting for them to ask questions about her and Craig, as she was a little eager to tell the world about it.

"Hey you two," Jimmy said.

"How was your date the other night Kels?" Ash asked, wondering if Craig knew about it. Knowing that he still was in love with Kelsie, but she didn't seem to feel the same way for him. She kind of felt bad for him though, the boys tried to set him up a couple of times but it never seemed to work.

"It was great," she said looking at Craig, giving him a big smile.

"Well that's good," glad to see that he friend was finally finding happiness again. She only hoped that Craig would finally find it.

"Well we have to go to our lockers, see you later," Kelsie said, hating lying to her friend.

"Bye."

"I'm surprised that they didn't know we were dating, I was sure that Paige would have opened up her big mouth about it by now," Craig said as Kelsie put her arms around his arm.

"I know, but maybe she got the idea that we wanted to tell others about our relationship," as they climbed the stairs to their lockers.

"Maybe," knowing how much Paige liked to gossip.

Manny and JT were strolling their way, holding hands, looking like they did when they started the relationship, unable to keep their eyes off each other. No one would have guessed they would last one date let along a year. Noticing Craig and Kelsie, "Oh, so you've finally landed your lady," Manny said to Craig.

"Yeah, I'm lucky that she finally would have me," looking over at Kelsie with a twinkle in his eye, with a big smile.

"Well I hope you are as happy as we are," JT stated glancing at Manny.

"We are!" Kelsie said squeezing Craig's hand slightly.

Kelsie sat in the library doing a poetry project for English, writing down some notes. Spinner and Jimmy were supposed to be helping her but they were too busy goofing off. She was getting a little annoyed because it was worth 20 of their final mark, and she didn't want to fail because of these two boneheads.

"Guys can you please help me?" she said harshly, as she had finely had it with the two of them.

Spinner changed the subject right away, "So what did you and Craig do after we left the other night?" nudging her arm a little.

"What?" Jimmy said surprised, looking at Kelsie, "What is he talking about?

"They're going out," Spinner blurted out before Kelsie got a chance to even answer.

"Since when?" feeling out of the loop.

"Well we've been together since after the movies, that day you and Spin found me and Craig kissing. We've been keeping it a secret. Only Spin and Paige caught us the other night, and it would have been too hard to make up another believable story."

"Oh man! I can't believe Craig was able to keep it a secret. He couldn't even keep it to himself about having two girls last year," Jimmy acknowledged.

"I know what you mean," putting his arm around Kelsie, smiling, "but this girl is extra special to him," Spinner said making Kelsie feel good.

"Why thanks!"

Craig and Kelsie walked into her house, to the usually silence, to find her mother sitting in the living room, with a mad look on her face. Craig and Kelsie looked at each other.

Surprised by her presence, "Mom when did you get home?" Kelsie asked.

"Funny thing, I'm in the Seattle when I got a phone call from Joey today," her mother spoke she glimpsed over at Craig and him at her. Wondering how Joey even got her number in the first place.

"Oh, what about?" she asked even though she already knew the answer to that.

"He wanted to know if Craig had been staying here since he sure hadn't been staying at any of his guy friend's house. So of course, I don't know what he's talking about," pacing back and forth. "So has he, because I haven't been home so I wouldn't really know," she yelled coming closer to Kelsie, with a look that could kill.

"If you want to know the truth…yes, but…"

"How long has this been going on behind our backs?"

"Since February."

Grabbing on to Craig's arm tightly, "I want you out of my house, and I don't want to see you near my daughter again," she yelled.

"NO!" Kelsie cried.

Removing Mrs. Fitzgerald hand, "Let me explain, it's not what you think!"

"I don't want to hear anything that comes out of your mouth, you good for nothing punk."

Getting into her mothers face, "I will not have you speak about him like that, you don't even know him. You don't know anything!" she shouted.

"I don't care; you wouldn't have done this if you hadn't met him."

"Mom, how would you know what I would have done?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you know that Chris stayed at our house most nights when you and dad went away on business, or that sometimes I stayed at his house? Or when he died how all of a sudden I was like a whole different person, that I treated my friends horrible."

She looked at her daughter with dismay, "What?"

Craig grabs a hold of her hand, and squeezes it, "See you don't play attention to anything, if you did you would have seen something was up. You never listened to my cries for you and dad to stay home, you acted as if my opinion didn't count, like I wasn't a part of your life anymore," she leaned her head on Craig's shoulder.

"Mrs. Fitzgerald did you know, that some nights when I've stayed here, I heard your daughter cry in herself to sleep, when she thought that I was sleeping. There's a part of her that struggles to open fully up to anyone," he was glad to finally this off his chest.

Mrs. Fitzgerald was astonished about how much she really didn't know about her own daughter. She couldn't even think about the last time they had sat down and just talked, or even had a family night. Had her husband and her been that busy to notice how much she was hurting inside? "Craig I think maybe you should leave, my daughter and I really should talk by ourselves."

He looked at Kelsie, looking into her eyes to make sure that was what she wanted, "It's okay, I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, love you," he said leaning in for a quick kiss.

Craig had come home to find no signs of Joey, so he thought he was home free for at least a little while, he wasn't in the mood to hear it right now. He walked through his room door to find Joey sitting on his bed. He dropped his head, and whispered, "Dam."

"So you've been lying to me about your where about…why?" wanting know the truth. He hated to be lied to.

"Kelsie's parents seem to go away a lot, and she hated being alone in such a big house, I stayed so that she wouldn't be."

"That's not an accuse for lying to me," he said with disappointment.

"What was I suppose you do, tell you I was staying at my girlfriends? Like that would really blow over well," he said looking straight at Joey without blinking.

"I thought you really had grown you after what happened with Ashley and Manny," standing up.

"This is what it always comes back to with you, I'm sorry we can't all be PERFECT like you," as he went to leave his room, "Oh that's right you were in the same position around my age," walking out leaving Joey to think of what he had said.

"How dare you?" he yelled.

Turns around, "What, you can bring stuff up, but I can't?"

"We're talking about you, not me. I'm not the one who's been sneaking around am I?" he sneered.

Rolling his eyes, "No. You know what Joey, I had my chance to cheat on Kelsie, but I never, because she means more to me than life itself."

"That's not all I was talking about Craig. I'm talking about the chance that she may get pregnant. That's the last thing you need right now, I want more for your life. I don't want you to be held back from the things you want to do in life. Kids are work; you don't always get to do the things you want once they come along."

Craig couldn't believe that Joey thought about those things for him. Yeah he was his stepson, but it's not the same as if he was his own. Had he been wrong about the way he felt all these years?


	25. Big Mistake!

Craig came behind Kelsie, who was putting her books in her locker, and put his arms around her waist. "Hey sweetie," he said kissing her on the nape of her neck with butterfly kisses.

Shutting her locker, she turned around to face him, putting her hands against his chest, "Hey, how did Joey react when you got home?"

"He yelled at me, and said how I was making a stupid mistake again," he said rolling his eyes.

"So he thinks it was just about the sex?" she said glaring at him as she back out of his arms.

"No, I told him I loved you," he said as if he was on trial.

"Well then why would he say that?"

"He just wants me to be careful because he wants more for my life."

"So he thinks I'm no good for it? Maybe I should just leave you alone then!" she said starting to walk away, with tears forming in her eyes.

It was as if she was trying to pick a fight, for a reason to get out of the relationship. Grabbing a hold of her wrist, "Kelsie, don't do this," he begged.

"Do what?" she snapped.

"Don't get mad at me for something someone else said," she still didn't look at him. "You never even let me finish telling you what happened."

Turning back to face him with sympathetic eyes, "Sorry!"

"Well maybe I should have worded that better," looking into her sad eyes. "Joey just doesn't want me to get you pregnant. He doesn't think that you're no good for me. He wants me to be able to do all things I've planned for my future."

"I want that for you too," she said genuinely with loving eyes.

"The way he talked made me realize that he actually thinks of me as his own flesh and blood. I never thought he felt that way."

"But he took you in didn't he," putting her arm around his shoulder.

"Yeah, but I always thought he did it because he felt sorry for me. Yeah he did things for me, but I always felt like an outsider. I never felt he was doing it because he loved me."

"Why haven't you told me this before? I thought we told each other everything?" getting real frustrated with him.

"Come on Kelsie, I bet there are things you haven't told me. There are just things I'm ready to tell you."

"Why not?" she said with a firm voice.

"Because I have a hard time opening my heart to anyone. It was hard enough for me to tell you about what my dad did to me."

"Craig I told you about my parents, I even told you about the loss of my own child, yet you still keep things from me," upset that after all this time he still refused to fully open up to her.

"It's not as easy for me to open up."

Clenching her fists, "Oh and you think it was so easy for me," she said as her voice began to grow louder, and people began to stare at them. "Screw you, I'm out of here," she said lifting her hands in the air, as she went and walked down the hall, far away from him.

What just happened here, Craig asked himself. Yesterday they were the happiest couple in school, and now it look like things might be over for them. That's the last thing he wanted. He sat down on the ground, leaning against the lockers, with his face planted in his hands.

Craig came in the cafeteria at lunch a few days later, to see Kelsie sitting with Jimmy, and Spinner, so he went to sit with them, hoping that Kelsie wasn't still mad at him.

"Hey you guys." Looking at her, "Hey Kelsie," Craig said as he sat down.

Kelsie just looked at him, and got up, "Sorry to have to rush out, but I remembered that I have something I have to take care of."

"Okay see you later," Jimmy said.

She walked away but not before glaring back at Craig with hurt in her eyes. Craig just felt like she was being unreasonable, and pigheaded.

"What was that all about?" Spinner asked noticing the look on her face.

"We got into a little fight the other morning at school."

"That was you guys?" Jimmy asked, remembering that he could hear a couple yelling at each other.

"Yeah!" he said looking down at his food.

"I heard that man. That's harsh!"

"She's been a total BITCH about it. I mean she won't even talk to me. Every time I've tried, she's taken off in the opposite direction or into the washroom. In biology, she got the teacher to move her into a group that is as far away from me as possible. She totally over reacted."

"Just give her time to cool down," Jimmy said.

"Yeah, but school's the only time I can talk to her because I'm grounded. That means no phone calls, or going anywhere for 3 weeks."

"What did you do to get that sentence?" Spinner asked.

"Joey found out that I was lying about staying at Jimmy's, and found out that I had been staying at Kelsie instead."

"Harsh," Spin replied, "How did you do it without her parents finding out?"

"Well… that's something I promised Kelsie I wouldn't say."

"Alright," but still a little curious about it.

"So what were you guys arguing about?" Spinner asked being nosy as usual.

"Well she doesn't like that I haven't told her all my secrets when she'd told me about all of hers."

"Like what?" eager to know more about her. He knew so little.

Craig was a little mad at her so he just blurted it, not really thinking about what he was doing, "About a year into her relationship with Chris she got pregnant. When she was only 6 ½ months pregnant she got into a little fight with her parents, and went into premature labor. They had a baby girl named Satine, but she only lived a month because she was just too weak."

"Poor Kelsie," Spinner said said.

"Well after that she took the school year off, and that's why she's in the same grade as us."

"I bet that's why she took losing Chris so bad," Spinner implied.

"Craig do you really think you should be telling us this. I mean I don't think Kelsie would be so happy to know that you told her secrets."

Knowing that they were right, Craig put his face into his hands, "What did I just do? There I go again making a big mistake. Maybe I'm just doomed when it comes to relationships."

Putting his hand on Craig's back, "We won't tell anyone. Just find a way to make it up to her."

"Like what?"

"Well you could sneak out to see her," Spinner suggested.

"Yeah, and get grounded for even longer. I don't think so."

"But isn't she worth it?" Jimmy asked.

Thinking about it for a second, "Yeah she is," he smiled slightly.

"Then risk it. If you don't, you might lose her forever."

He thought of her sweet kisses, and it killed him to think that he may not taste them again. "But how am I going to do it. I've never done this before."

"Do something romantic, something that will leave her speechless," Jimmy said.

"Now if I could only figure what that was. Why do girls have to be so complicated?"

"You're telling me man," Spinner replied.

Craig spent all day trying to figure a way to make it up to her. The answer was so easy; he couldn't believe it took him so long to figure it out.

He waited until he saw Joey go to bed. Then he quietly crept down the stairs, trying not to make a sound. He grabbed his surprise from the hall closet, and then he left out the back door, taking the alleyway for a shortcut.

It took him about 20mins to walk there, since there was no way he could have taken the car without Joey finding out. He went through her pathway to the backyard. He sat on the porch railing, started strolling on his guitar, and began singing.

Remember when, we never needed each other  
The best of friends like  
Sister and Brother  
We understood, we'd never be,  
Alone

Kelsie was trying to sleep but she still had her fight with Craig on the brain. Why couldn't he trust her with those sorts of things? Then she heard something coming from outside her window. She went out on her porch to find Craig below singing the song from her birthday.

Those days are gone, and I want so much  
The night is long and I need your touch  
Don't know what to say  
I never meant to feel this way  
Don't want to be  
Alone tonight

Craig sat there looking at her with sadden eyes, pleading with her eyes for her to forgive him. He hoped this would make everything right.

What can I do, to make it right  
Falling so hard so fast this time  
What did I say, what did you do?  
How did I fall in love with you?

Kelsie was having a hard time hating Craig, when he did something like this for her. Her heart felt like it was melt, just listening to his beautiful voice.

I hear your voice  
And I start to tremble  
Brings back the child that, I resemble

I cannot pretend, that we can still be friends  
Don't want to be,  
Alone tonight

What can I do, to make it right  
Falling so hard so fast this time  
What did I say, what did you do?  
How did I fall in love with you?

Oh I want to say this right  
And it has to be tonight  
Just need you to know, oh yeah

Maybe I overreacted a little Kelsie thought. I mean it takes time in a relationship to fully let someone in, and we haven't even been going out for that long.

I don't want to live this life  
I don't want to say goodbye  
With you I wanna spend  
The rest of my life

What can I do, to make it right  
Falling so hard so fast this time  
Everything's changed, we never knew

How did I fall,  
in love ,  
with you?

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't be mad at you."

"I'm sorry too," feeling guilty about what he told the boys.

Kelsie didn't know what he had to be sorry about. "Just wait a sec. I'm coming down." She ran down the stairs to the deck door. She came outside, and sat on a deck chair near Craig.

Craig sets his guitar down, and sits beside her, "Kels, I still have a hard time trusting people. And it will take time for me to fully let you in." Grabbing her hand, "But look how much I let you know already since I met you. Most of those things people don't know about."

"I know, and I was thinking, that was enough for now. When you're ready, I know you'll tell me." Leaning into him, "I love you."

"I love you too," kissing her on the forehead.

"You should go before my parents discover you. I don't know if they'll be as lenient as last time."

"Alright, talk to you tomorrow," he picked up his guitar, and started heading to the gate, when Kelsie grabbed his hand; bring him back for a kiss.

"Bye," she said blowing him another kiss as she went into the house.

Craig made it back into his house without being caught. And he was glad because he didn't want his grounding days to spill over into the summer months. That would mean less time for him and Kelsie to be alone.


	26. How Could You?

Craig walked up to the school to see Kelsie with a big smile on her face. All the joy he felt last night had gone away. Kelsie greeted him at the front of the school the next day with a kiss. He felt he should tell her that he told Jimmy and Spinner about Satine. He felt so guilty for betraying her trust.

Craig backed away from the kiss, "Don't."

"Craig, what's the matter?" Not understanding why he backed away. They had made up last night, so what was up with this.

"I…need to tell you something," with dread in eyes.

"What is it?"

"I did something real stupid," putting his head down in shame.

"If it doesn't involve you cheating on me, I don't really care."

"No I have to tell you this." Grabbing a hold of her hands, "I was talking to the boys yesterday, telling why you were mad at me. And without thinking I told them about you losing Satine."

Kelsie slapped him across the face. "How dare you bring MY daughter into this? You had NO RIGHT!" she said with tears running down her face.

"I never meant to do it to hurt you."

"Of course not! You have an excuse for everything."

"You wine to me about opening myself up to others, but you can't even do it yourself."

"You've never lost a child, so you just wouldn't understand."

"You know what, that's where you're wrong," he sneered.

As he said that, she turned around to face him. "What?"

Drawing closer to her, "Manny got pregnant, but in the end she aborted it. She didn't even care what I thought about it. She didn't care that I actually wanted to be a father. No she only thought about why she didn't want it."

Feeling real bad for what she had said, "I'm sorry," Putting her hand on his cheek, "I didn't know."

"I know. I never told anyone how much I wanted it. It would have been my family, at the time I felt I didn't have one or least wasn't part of one."

Looking into his eyes, "I miss her the most when seeing other parents with their children playing and laughing."

"I get sad when I see how Joey is with Angela. I wonder if I would be like that with mine."

"I always wonder what kind of mother I would've made." Grabbing his hand, "I know you would've made a great dad."

His eyes widened, "Really."

"Yeah, I've seen the way you are with Angela. The way she looks at you with so much love. She really admires you."

"I love her dearly. She reminds me a lot of my mom. She looks like her, and even acts like her at times," he smiled.

"See what I mean."

Backing away from her, "I'd understand if you don't want to see me again after what I did. I guess what everyone says about me is true, I wreck everything I touch."

Kelsie didn't like the way he was talking about himself. Yeah he wrecked things, but he had done many wonderful things too. She closed the gap between them, "Craig, everyone makes mistakes, that's a part of life."

"Yeah, but mine are usually bigger then most."

"Craig you were right I should share my daughter with my friends. I was just afraid that they would judge me since I was so young."

"If they can get past what I did, then I think they can get through this," rubbing her back.

"I guess you're right. How about we start this relationship on a clean slate? I mean we love each other and both still want to work on it, so why not start out new."

"I agree, and from now on no keeping any secrets from each other."

"Yeah, now let's finish what I started," grabbing on to his shirt, bringing him closer for a kiss.

At lunch, Kelsie decided to take Ashley and Paige out, off the school grounds. It was time she let them know her little secret, a secret she had been hiding since she walked through the doors of Degrassi.

They went to the nearest coffee shop to school, and sat outside on the little porch provided. It was a nice day out, the sun was shining, and it was quite warm.

"This is nice being without the guys for once. Sometimes we just need some time away from them," Ash said.

"I agree," Paige said.

"Okay I brought you here because I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?" Ashley asked.

"When I came to Degrassi I held a few secrets."

"Like what?"

"When I was 15, I found out I was pregnant. I wasn't even finished gr 10 at that point, I was unsure about what I was to do or even how Chris would react"

"Oh my," Paige said putting her hand over her mouth.

"Well Chris told me that he really wanted us to keep it, that after we graduated we would get married and become a real family. When he said that I knew he really loved me. He was very supportive going to every appointment with me, went and bought me anything I needed them."

"That was sweet of him," Ash replied.

"Yeah, when I was about 6 1/2 months pregnant, I got real fed up at my parents."

"Why?" Paige asked.

"See they had just started at this big law office about a year prior, once they started working there they took a lot of cases that kept them from being at home all the time, leaving me alone a lot. Nevertheless, sometimes Chris would stay over, other nights I would stay at his house. Chris's mom wanted to go over there and tell them a piece of her mind, but I made her promise not to. However, I had finally had enough with it, with a baby coming on the way I need as much support as I could get. So one night I decided to have a chat with them. I started to tell them how I felt, but they didn't seem to really listen. We got in a big argument over it, that's when I went into premature labor. We had Chris meet us at the hospital. However, in Sechelt their hospital isn't that good for this kind of situation so they had to fly me off to Vancouver. Chris came with me. They tried to prolong the birth, but nothing they tried just seemed to work. I gave birth to a beautiful girl, Satine Lacy Mewhort. Neither of us got to hold her before she was rushed off in the incubator. Chris never left my side from there on. We would go visit her everyday. A month later well we were visiting her, her heart stopped. They tried all they could, but she was just too weak," a tear came down her cheek as she remembered that fateful day.

"Oh Hun, I'm so sorry," Paige said, seeing the pain in her eyes. "This must have been so hard to tell us."

"Yeah," she gave a slight smile.

"Kelsie this must have been so hard," Ash said.

"It was at first, but Chris was so great about it. We helped each other grieve together. After all this, I took the rest of the school year off. Then I was told that I was leaving the only person I truly loved, but also the only connection I had left of my daughter," more tears rolled down.

"No wonder you reacted the way you did when he died."

"And thanks to Craig I got through it." Wiping her tears away, "Why hadn't anyone told me that Craig was going to be a father before Manny got rid of it?"

"We didn't think it was our place to say," Paige replied.

"I understand that," Kelsie said.

"So have you guys made up?" Ash asked.

"Yeah last night, but then we had a fight this morning because he told the boyz about Satine."

"What a little jerk!" Paige remarked.

"We talked it out though. It's was kind of both our faults."

"How's that?" Paige asked, not wanting her to be fooled by him.

"I said pretty hurtful things in the first fight. In addition, he told me that it wasn't that he told them about Satine to hurt me. He just wanted them understand my point of view of why I was angry at him."

"Just like boys, always thinking that they can get away with anything."

"Plus I'm not ready to give up on him. I love him. The only reason I'll dump him at this moment is if he cheats on me."

"I hope that doesn't happen, I know how it feels, and it isn't good," Ashley replied.

"I don't think he will. He seems to be different with Kelsie then he was with you or even Manny," Paige exclaimed.

"I know, since she's arrived I've seen such a difference."

"So I told her that I told you guys about her daughter," Craig explained as he sat down at the table in the cafeteria.

"So how did she react?" Spin asked.

"At first a little yelling, but after I told her that I lost a child too, she seemed a little more understanding, and willing to talk it out."

"That's good you guys are good for each other. You have helped each other in so many ways. With you she helped you open you heart. I've never seen such great music come out of you since she came. With her, you have made her see she can love again. She has so much joy in her now, and passion," Jimmy said.

"Thanks!" blushing a little, smiling down at his plate.


	27. I Have News!

Two weeks had gone by, and both their punishments were done. The big dance was just within a week, the last function of the year! Everyone could wait until it because it meant that there was no more school until fall.

"So have you decided what you're going to wear? Paige asked Kelsie as they stood outside her locker.

"There's a beautiful dress at Bryan's that I've had my eye on," Kelsie replied. "How about you?"

"I saw one in another store, why don't we go to the mall today and pick them up."

"Sounds good, we'll meet at my locker after school, and take my car."

"Alright," grabbing her books out of her locker.

As they walked down the hall, "So who are you going with?"

"Jay, Sean's friend."

Kelsie looked very surprised, "I thought he was dating Emma."

"No, they broke up a month ago. He's pretty cute, so I though what the heck, it's only one night. I thought he seems different from the other guys I've dated."

"Well this defiantly will be interesting," she smiled.

Craig and Spinner were sitting in the garage waiting for Jimmy and Marco to show up, so that they could hang out. At had been a while since they had just the guys, without girlfriends.

"Spin who are you taking to the dance?"

Raising his eyebrows, "The last person you would ever expect."

"Who...Liberty?" he laughed, really hoping that wasn't who it was.

"Okay, okay maybe not the last."

"Who then?"

"Emma Nelson."

Craig was blown away by his answer, "Since when is Emma even on your radar?"

"Since I realized how beautiful she is. We've become friends now."

"You mean she's actually giving you the time of day?" knowing that Emma didn't really like Spin and his crew.

"What, is it really a surprise?"

"Actually yes! So when did you ask her?"

"Last night when I seen her come into the Dot with Manny and JT."

"Wow, I'm surprised she never told me," since Emma told him everything.

The night had come; Kelsie was in her room sitting in front of her vanity mirror putting on lipstick when the doorbell rang. She didn't get up; she figured her parents would get it.

She was finishing applying her lipstick on when someone knocked at her bedroom door.

"Come in," she called out.

Her dad walked in, "Craig's here." Kelsie gets up and turns to him, "Honey you look so BEAUTIFUL!"

"Thanks," she smiled.

"You better not keep you date waiting," guiding his daughter out into the hall.

"Is it wrong for me to be this happy after all that's happened with Satine and Chris?" Kelsie asked, turning back to her dad.

"Honey, I think Chris would just be happy to see that you were able to have someone there that makes you happy. He told me after Satine dies that your happiness was all that mattered to him."

A tear fell from her eye, she gave her dad a hug, "I miss them dad!"

"I know you do, but you have a great guy here for you," giving her his best smile.

Kelsie walked down the step in a red halter dress, with a plaited skirt. Her hair was pulled back with curls coming down.

Craig was standing there a green t-shirt with a black sports jacket, black dress pants and black sneakers.

Craig and Kelsie's eyes met, and they both got lost in them.

"Kels, you look GORGEOUS!!!" he said as he grabbed a hold of her hand, kissing it.

"You look pretty HOT yourself!"

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yep." As Craig opened the door, "Bye mom, bye dad, see you later."

"Alright, have fun!" her mom called out from the living room.

Kelsie was dancing with the girls while Craig was with the boys at the refreshment table. They both glanced over at each other, and gave each other a smile. Kelsie mouth, I love you.

When Kelsie turned back to her friends, "Kels have you told Craig yet?" Paige asked.

"No, but I was going to do it after the dance. It's kind of hard to talk here."

"Do you think he will be mad?" Ashley asked.

"A little maybe, but I really want to do this."

"Then do it, even if he doesn't want you to. It is your life." Paige replied.

"Dude your girlfriend looks hot to..." that's all Spin got out before Craig punched him in the shoulder. Spin began to rub his arm a little.

"Spin aren't you here on a date?" Craig asked.

"Yeah, but it doesn't change the fact that it's so true. Anyways Emma herself is looking so fine herself. But I must say she's got even hotter than Paige now!"

"Spin you'll never change," Jimmy said. "So what are you all doing after the dance?"

"Well Kelsie wants to go back to my place to talk."

Spin looked Craig's way, "Did you screw up again?"

"Ha ha, very funny! No she said she has something to tell me."

"Oh," Spin said softly, wondering if Craig got another pregnant. "Well Emma and I have no plans."

"Well why don't you and her come back to my place for a little get together after the dance," Jimmy said.

"Sounds good."

Kelsie and Craig were sitting in his garage on the couch. Kels had Craig's jacket over her shoulders to keep her warm, while she leaned her head against his shoulder.

Rubbing her shoulder, "What did you want to tell me?"

"Yesterday I found out..."

Craig puts his fingers on her lips so she can't finish her sentence, "I just want to say if you are pregnant, we'll get threw it. I won't be going anywhere."

"I'm not," she said firmly. "No I was asked to come to Sechelt to do a Music Festival at the end of August, and I've accepted. I'm going for the whole month, so I can spend time with some friends."

Craig's head hung down, "What about the plans we made?"

"Hun we can still do that all. Nevertheless, this is really important to me. I want to go, and prove to myself that I can still go back there after everything that has happened," pining for him to look her in the eyes.

"I know," he said trying to smile.

"I wish there was a way you could come with me," holding on to his hand.

"Me too!"

Then she thought of something, "I have some money saved up. I could pay for you to come with me."

"I couldn't ask you to spend your savings on me."

"Craig trust me, I have more than enough to spare. Plus if you come you get to finally meet my friends."

"Okay, but I will find a way to pay you back," looking into her eyes before kissing her on the lips.

Leaning her head on his forehead, "You know I love you."

"Yeah."

"When we go to Sechelt you will need to be my rock. It's going to be hard for me to be back there at times."

"I know it will. I know you will cry about Chris. I also know a big piece of you will always belong to him because of that love you shared but also because of the daughter you shared together."

"Thank you for being so understanding. I don't know how many guys would understand it all."

"That's because that's how much I want to be with you. I would sacrifice anything."

Kelsie turned to face him, putting her hand on his chest, leaning in for a kiss. It started out soft; she began to tug on his lower lip with her teeth. She lowered herself on the couch, forcing him upon her. They continued to kiss, leading to other things.

_Big Surprises will come when they get to Sechelt_


	28. Here In Sechelt

Kelsie and Craig arrived in Sechelt in their rented jeep. Craig looked out the window, and saw how beautiful the scenery that laid around them, and loved it. In Toronto there wasn't this much nature, or beautiful view's. Now this was like heaven on earth he thought.

"I can see why you loved it here so much," he said still looking out the window while she drove.

"Wait until you see where I use to live in Halfmoon Bay, it's got even more nature around you."

"So where are we staying?" putting his hand on hers that was on the stick shift.

"At the Bay Inn, the nicest place to stay in town."

"Sounds good to me, as long as I'm with you I should be great," he said making her smile.

As they approached the inn, Kelsie felt a little weird, as if something wasn't right. She just couldn't figure out what so she just brushed it off. She didn't want to spoil her time here.

Craig grabbed their suitcase from the back, while Kelsie went to check in.

"Hi, I have a room for two under the name Kelsie Fitzgerald."

"One moment please," the receptionist, said typing it into the computer. "Yes here we are. You're in room 217."

Handing her the key, "Thanks."

Kelsie meets Craig by the elevator, "You need any help?"

"No I'm fine," leaning in for a kiss.

When they got into the room Craig shut the door, and grabbed Kelsie around the waist, and crushed his lips on hers, slowly walking her to the bed. Once at the bed he pushed her gently on the bed, and then crawled on top of her, and began kissing her neck.

When he moved his hand down her body to her inner thigh Kelsie moved from underneath him. "It's time for you to explore this place."

"I was already on my way to explore my girlfriend a little," coming closer to her again.

"Not right now your not," she laughed. "Now grab your camera. I know where you can get some nice shots."

A little disappointed he got up off the bed, "Alright if we do this now then I want to finish where I left off," kissing her neck, "when we get back." He then went over and grabbed his camera out of his bag.

"Maybe," giving him a sweet smile. "If I feel a little generous."

"I don't like it when you tease me," he pouted.

"Oh poor baby," she said as they walked out the door.

When they got outside the inn, "So where is this place?"

"Right in the front of you," pointing at the bay that was before them. "We can walk down the path and see if you get inspired.

Craig pulled Kelsie down the path, "You're going to have to pose you know."

"Okay, just tell me what you want me to do," pulling him down the stairs, down to the beach.

After spending sometime taking pictures Kelsie took Craig to a near by coffee shop. As they approached the shop, Craig had Kelsie on his back.

Someone seen them approaching the shop, and he had sadness in his eyes. The thought of Kelsie been with someone other them him hurt. Why hadn't he told her when he had the chance, before they got too close? Life hasn't been fair to him this past year. He saw how happy she looked in his arms. Well at least she was happy he thought. He left out the other door before Kelsie able to spot him.

Getting off Craig's back, "You're going to have to give me copies of those photos."

"You got it," grabbing a hold of her hand.

"What do you want?"

"Ice Latte."

"Sounds good!" Turns her head to order, "Can we have two ice lattes."

"Where to now?" Craig asked as they walked out of the shop.

"How about I show you where I went to school?"

"Is it in walking distance?"

"The thing you need to know about this place is everywhere is within walking distance."

"I guess you weren't exaggerating when you said it was a small town."

"Nope, trust me it can be nice at times, but other times it can be bad, like for rumors and all."

"So where is this school?"

"Up that hill," she pointed. "It's hidden by all those trees."

Looking at how high the hill was he was kind of dreading having to climb up it. Maybe it wasn't the best idea of his.

They were sitting on the bluff at the school when Kelsie got a phone call. She at first didn't want to answer it because she was loved just sitting there in Craig's arms, and didn't want to be bothered. But then thought what the heck, they would have more time to be alone anyway she got up to answer it, "Hello."

"Hey girl I heard you were in town," Tanya said having heard it from a friend who had saw her, "So when did you get in?"

"This morning, where are you?"

"I'm at Steve's, with a couple of people. He's having BBQ and pool party."

"That's kewl! Did your source tell you that I brought my boyfriend?"

"Yes, and I get to finally meet him, since I've heard so much about him."

"Yeah he wants to meet you guys too," getting a little nervous about what they may think about him.

"Why don't you come over?"

"Okay, how about in half an hour."

"Sounds good!"

"Okay, see you then, bye."

"Bye."

Kelsie came up to Craig while he knelt down taking photos of the beautiful view of the town. He looked so into it, she kind of hated to bother him while he was so into his work.

"Craig."

"Yeah Hun," looking over at her.

"That was Tanya; Steve's having a little get together now, and wants us to come over so they can meet you."

Getting up, grabbing her arm, helping walking her off the bluff through the bushes, "So, let's go."

"Alright, but we have to go get out bathing suits from the Inn and the car. Steve lives in West Sechelt."

Kelsie and Craig head through the side of the house to the backyard, to find about ten other people in the back. They were all laughing having a great time.

Abby came running towards her, "Kelsie!"

"Abby," hugging each other. "How are you?"

"Great, Steve and I are now an item," she said so giddy.

"Really, that's so great!" happy that it finally happened, after everyone knew they were right for each other.

Abby walks up to Craig, "So you must be the infamous Craig?"

"Yes, what did she tell you about me?" curios to what she would have said to get a nickname like that.

"Well that you're very talented, a total sweetheart, and very _HOT_"

Blushing, "She did, did she. Well I think she is all the above too!" Pulling her into his arms and giving her a kiss.

Steve came and put his arm around Abby's waist, "Well you treat her right then, because she deserves only the best."

The next week she spent hanging out with her friends, catching up with their lives. She didn't think she missed this place that much! What she didn't know was that someone had been watching her and Craig together whenever they came around town. This guy couldn't help it he was just needed to see her, to be able to see her beautiful smile again. He couldn't go up to her because he was afraid what she would say. In addition, he wanted just wanted to see her happy which she really seemed to be, so just to watch her with him was okay.

Craig and Kelsie were at the Lighthouse Bistro eating dinner. Kelsie needed to use the washroom. She slowly got up and walked towards the bathroom, she wasn't paying any attention where she was going, and ended up bumping into someone. It caused her to lose balance, as she started to tip over he caught her in his arms.

Kelsie looked up at his face and screamed right before she fainted.

He caressed her cheek, "Kels, wake up."

Craig heard the scream, and came around the corner to see her in the arms of another. His eyes began to flare, "What's going on here?" That's when Craig recognized who it was, and his eye widened in shock.


	29. I Can't Belive it!

"Kelsie fainted, I was just helping her," he said glancing over at Craig. He didn't want him to think he was trying anything.

Kelsie than awoke to see his face shining down on her, "Am I dead?"

He shook his head and smiled, "No!"

Moving from his arms, backing away from him, "Is this some kind of sick joke? It has to be, Chris is dead." she snared at him, looking a little distressed.

Trying to close the gap between each other, pleading with his eyes, "No, it's really me!"

She couldn't handle the news, she felt like the walls were closing in on her, as if she couldn't breathe. She had to get out of here. She pushed past both Chris and Craig, out of the door with tears filled in her eyes. Her life never seemed to stay normal everything was always complicated.

"I don't know why you staged you own death, but it was the cruelest thing you could ever have to someone you say you love. And I thought from what I've done that I was a jerk," Craig said before running out to comfort Kelsie.

"Kels, are you alright?" putting his hands on her shoulders.

Moving a little, "Just leave me alone, I need time to be alone." She jumped into the jeep, leaving Craig standing there, who was left there to walk back to the Inn.

On his walk back to the Inn, his phone was ringing; he looked at the call display to see that it was from back home. He wasn't sure if he was up to talking to anyone right now, but he decided that maybe he could help him out with his problem. "Hello," he said with sadness in his voice.

"Hey dude, how's the trip going, if you know what I mean?" Spinner asked as he sat in the Dot, after a long shift.

"Great…until about 10mins ago."

"What did you do?" knowing that Craig was bad for screwing things up.

"Nothing! But not everything that goes wrong in my relationships is necessarily my fault," acting very defensive.

"I know, I'm just bugging," he laughed. "So spill!"

"Guess who we ran into?" as his anger began to grow at the thought of it.

"Who?"

"Let's just say her boyfriend just came back from the dead."

Spitting out the drink he had in his mouth, "What, but how? Are you sure it was him?"

"Yes I'm sure. I don't know the details on how, but we went out for dinner and then she saw him."

"What kind of guy does that to their girlfriend? He's a jerk, she should be glad to be rid of him. Kelsie deserves so much better than that."

"Well I don't even know how she feels about it all because she took off on me, leaving me to walk back to the Inn."

"Well I have no doubt on whom she will pick; I mean you guys are great together. You bring out the best in each other."

Sitting on their bed in their room, "I hope you're right." Changing the subject since it really hurt him to have to talk about it. "What have you been up to?"

"Well hanging out with Emma of course! We went to Wonderland Monday, and tonight she's coming over to my place to my place to watch a movie, we just want to be alone."

"Oh…" knowing what Spinner meant by that comment. "Have I been missing anything else?"

"Just the big party Emma threw. It was awesome; anyone who's anyone was there."

"Emma threw a party. You must have really changed that girl."

"Yeah, but she is much better girl now that she isn't so uptight. She actually likes to go out and try new things without questioning it."

"Well good for you. As long as you, guys are both happy. However, I'm going to let you go. I'm going to call one of her friends to see if they have heard from her."

"Alright man, good luck," knowing that he was going to need it.

Kelsie sat on the hood of the Jeep, leaning against the glass, looking up at the marvelous stars. It had been a while since she seen this many, when in the city you can't see the stars as well. Nature always seemed to be more beautiful here.

She felt like screaming, how could he do this to her. Tears ran down her cheeks. She wanted to hate him so much for doing this to her, for turning her whole world upside down, for coming back to complicate things. She was doing a good job of moving on with a life without him, and now she finds out he's not really dead.

A car made its way up the hill, and parked right beside her. "I knew I'd find you up here. This was always your favorite place to go, to get away from everything. I remember the many times we would just come up here to talk about life, about our dreams," walking closer to her.

Kelsie didn't look his way, "I'm not really in the mood to talk to anyone right now, especially YOU," she spat, "SO LEAVE!"

"Kels just let me explain," Chris said sitting next to her.

Turning to face him, "Oh you think you deserve a chance to explain?"

"Trust me in some way I do."

Looking out at the view, she couldn't stand to look in the eyes of someone she still kept close to her heart, after what he had pulled. "Every night I cried myself to sleep for almost 2 months. I felt like I lost the other half of myself. It was like losing our daughter Satine all over again. I didn't think I would ever get over it. If you didn't want me you could have at least broke up with me instead of doing this, getting all our friends to lie for you."

"Can you even give me a chance to even tell you why?"

"Fine!" she yelled.

"I was in that accident after I left the airport. They didn't think I had any chances to live, so my mom thought that I would want you to be in the less pain as possible. So she decided since I was going to die anyways to tell you I had died already. She knew otherwise you would be on the next plane to see me, and knew it would be hard on you to watch me die like we did with our daughter."

Pounding her fist on the hood, "It's not fair; I shouldn't have been left out of that."

"I then ended up waking up in April, but still fragile. When I heard what my mom had done, I went crazy. I thought she didn't have the right to do that. I wouldn't talk to her for a while."

"Why didn't you end up telling me?" feeling so hurt that he didn't feel the need to end up telling her after he was better.

"I wanted to tell you in person because I didn't think it was the right thing to do over the phone."

"What happened then?" looking at him with evil eyes.

"Well at the beginning of June I came all the way to Toronto, and came to Degrassi to surprise you. I even went a picked out your favorite flower. When I came through the door, I saw you with Craig. You were in his arms giggling, and kissing. I had known you two were together, but I never thought you were that happy until I saw it. And I didn't want to come back into your life and complicate things. So I left leaving you to be happy like you deserve to be."

"Chris." Pointing to herself, "That should have been my choice to make. This was my life too."

"I'm sorry; it just seemed to make sense at the time," looking down at his lap.

"You know I never took of this ring," showing it to him as it hung on her neck on a necklace, "until about 3 months ago, and only because I thought it was time to move on. But I never stop loving you."

Looking into her eyes, "Really."

"Really! We have a bond that can never be torn by anything."

"Where do we go from here? Is there still a chance for us after all this?"

"I don't know because I love Craig too! I think I just need a little time to figure things out."

"I understand, but just remember I never meant to hurt you."

"I know that, my dad told me what you said after Satine died."

"Well I mean it always even if it means we can no longer be together," he said giving her a smile.

Kelsie leaned over, and gave him a hug. It felt so nice to be in his arms again she thought. She hadn't realized these past few moths how much she missed it. She looked up at him, into his eyes, and felt drawn to him like a magnet. She leaned in and gave him a kiss, soft, but quick.


	30. Her Choice

Kelsie walked back into her hotel room, and looked around, but Craig didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. She kind of expected this, but she knew he would eventually be back; there wasn't many places to go here especially after 8pm.

Kelsie sat on the parch watching the ocean. Tonight had defiantly been full of surprises. She wanted to be mad at Chris, but it wasn't his entire fault, it was partly his mothers. Why did his mom think she had the right to play God with her life?

Craig came in to see Kelsie sitting on the parch hugging her knees. She looked in deep thought. He opened the sliding glass door, "Hey."

Turning around to look behind her, "Hi, sorry about earlier. I just needed to be alone to think, to talk to Chris."

"I understand it was a shock to me too! But what Chris did was cruel," he said sitting in the chair next to her.

"It wasn't Chris."

"What do you mean?"

"Chris was in the accident his mother said he died in. See he was never suppose to live, so his mom told me a lie so I wouldn't come back to B.C and have to watch him die like I watched Satine. She thought she was doing me good."

"Yeah, what good it did her," raising his voice.

"Craig calm down," putting her hand on his arm.

"You want me to calm down when you just take whatever the guy says to heart, and let him get away with his excuses. Have you forgotten the hell you went through this past year?"

"No!"

"I was the one who you turned to, and helped you through your pain, not him," he yelled, getting frustrated that what he did didn't seem to matter. "I watched you cry numerous amounts of times over him. To me he doesn't seem worth it."

Tears swelled in her eyes, "I know, but you know I never stopped loving him."

"Well I've loved you since the first day you walked into my life. And words can't even describe the feeling I feel when I'm with you. Don't what I feel count?"

Craig was making this harder on her, "Craig," putting her hand on his cheek, "I love you too, but at some point I'm going to have to choose who means more."

Looking into her eyes, "Kelsie you think you have to choose, but in your heart you already know who it is."

"No I'm really not sure right now," she tried to convince him.

"Kelsie stop lying to yourself, your heart already knows the answer."

Kelsie hated that he could read her. "Craig, don't make me choose already, I'm not ready to let go," she pleaded.

"Kelsie prolonging it is not going to make it any easier," he said as tears ran down his face.

Putting her hand on his cheek, "You know I never meant it to be this way, right!" he didn't answer her. "RIGHT!!!"

"I know, but I guess we weren't meant to be," looking away from her.

"You will always be a dear friend to me."

"I know." Friends sure, that will really work. I don't want to be just your friend I want to be more. I thought you promised me that you would never leave me, but I guess they all leave at some point, he thought.

"You can stay here as long as you want."

"I think it would be best if I went back to Toronto, I need time to heal. I need to get away from the place that took my only love."

Kelsie looked into his sad eyes, and began to feel bad. She had really hurt him; she had promised never to leave him, but here what was she doing? A tear ran down her face as she headed to the door. "Phone me when you're ready to go home."

"I will. You should go to Chris; he is waiting for his Angel to come back to him."

Kels gave him a smile, before leaving the room.

Craig sat there. The moment the stepped foot in this town he felt like something bad was going to happen. He couldn't even cry about it. He hated her for doing this to him. He picked up the glass that was on the table outside and threw it against the wall.

Kelsie walked up the path of the so familiar house. This place had been like a home away from home. As she approached the door, she felt butterflies in her stomach.

Chris was lying on his bed resting his head on his hands. Thinking of his many days with Kelsie, like the day, she told him he was going to be a father. He remembered been shocked about it, not sure if he was ready, but then thought as long as it was with her he didn't really care that it didn't happen the right way. A child with her would be a perfect gift to come out of their love. He wondered if Satine would have had her mom's heart and beauty; and what part of her would have been like him.

She lightly knocked on the door. Her hands shook a little, while she waited for someone to answer the door.

Chris heard a knock at the front door, but debated whether to answer it. He wasn't in the mood to hang out with friends. He just wanted to be alone. He finally decided to get it when the knocking just wouldn't stop.

He unlocked the door, when he opened it his eyes lit up with joy. With happiness in his voice, "What are you doing here?"

Drawing closer to him, closing the door behind her, "I came to see you."

"Does this mean what I hope it means?" he said with so much hope.

Leaping into his arms, with a big smile, "YES!!!"

Kelsie grasped a hold of Chris's head and brought it towards her. She tilted her head a bit and crushed her lips on his.

Jumping down out of his arms, taking the ring of f of her necklace, handing it to him, "Would you do me the honors?"

"It would be my pleasure," he smiled, placing it back on her ring finger.

She watched him as he put it back on, and then looked up at him, "I love you!"

"I love you forever!"

He grabbed her by the waist bringing her closer to him, taking in her scent. They looked into each other's eyes, taking in every moment. Chris finally took the lead, and leaned in, kissing her softly on the lips, running his tongue along the rim of her lips. He gently pushed her against the front door, pinning her hands to the door. He removed her shirt strap from her shoulder kissing her shoulder.

"Chris, I've needed this for so long, I've needed your touch, a touch that I could never seem to forget."

"Me too!" kissing her lips again.

Kelsie took his hand and started to lead him to his bedroom, closing the door behind them.

Craig had been home for a couple of days but hadn't left the house. He refused to talk to anyone. He stayed at home developing his photo's from Sechelt for his portfolio when he came across one of him and Kelsie. A tear rolled down his cheek, hitting the photo.

He remembered their conversation just before he left:

"_I will always remember how you helped me. I don't think as long as I live that I will forget you," Kelsie said giving him a hug._

"_You sound like you're never coming back."_

"_I'm not; Chris and I decided that I would finish my last semester at Chatelch, and then in the spring we're moving to Victoria to go to school."_

"_I know everyone will miss you, especially me and Paige."_

"_I will be back probably at Christmas to pick up my stuff."_

_He wasn't going to cry in front of her, he promised himself he wouldn't. "Good Luck!"_

Craig began to think maybe she was sent to him to show him to open his heart to other people. Maybe now when he gets into another relationship he will be able to open himself fully.

When he walked out of his dark room, he was greeted by Emma, who was sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Joey told me what happened. How are you holding up?" she said sincerely giving him a slight smile.

"A bit better. I'm happy I had her in my life even though it was for a short time."

"That's good. I'm in the same boat; Spin and I broke up too."

"Why is that?"

"He was trying to change me too much; I was becoming someone I didn't even know."

"I guess we both have no luck with our love lives," sitting down beside her.

"Guess not, but at least we have a good friend who is there for us when we're down."

"True, true!" hugging her.

_I'm thinking of writing a sequel to this where Kelsie comes back to visit, but she has a secret that only a select few know. Plus Craig & Emma are together now!_


End file.
